Suddenly democracy is no longer a matter of course

Vincent Chao appears at the campaign rally with a blue and yellow mask. His party colleagues wear green, the color of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Chao chose the colors of Ukraine, even though it's 8,000 kilometers from Taiwan. The young candidate for a Taipei district council wants to point out how quickly democracy and freedom can be threatened by a big neighbor. In Taiwan's case, that big neighbor is China.

Beijing has been provoking the island nation, whose independence it does not recognize, for years. China has been increasing military pressure off Taiwan's coast since the summer and is trying to use hybrid warfare to influence the mood in the country. But the Taiwanese have learned to fight back. This becomes clear in the election campaign for the local elections.

"Taipei, jiayou!", roughly translated "Let's go, Taipei!" Thousands of people shouted in the center of the Taiwanese capital last Sunday. The DPP rally is more like a carnival than a campaign event. Superhuman dinosaur and flower balloons float above the crowds, music is played, the dogs wear party-colored costumes, crackers explode with a bang on the street. Taiwan's democracy is colorful and vibrant.

But the happiness with which she is being celebrated should not be a sign of the lurking danger, warns election worker Anita. “Freedom and democracy are like air. You breathe them without thinking - until they are taken from you," the 27-year-old quoted Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen as saying.

Anita came to Taiwan from Hong Kong to study in 2016 and stayed. "I worry that China will do to Taiwan what Hong Kong has done," she said. As a foreigner, Anita is not allowed to vote, but still wants to support Taiwan's democracy.

"Democracy has become part of our national identity," said city council candidate Vincent Chao at the meeting with WELT. According to the Economist's democracy index for this year, Taiwan occupies eighth place, ahead of Germany. The old-fashioned system of paper ballots shows how important their democracy is to the Taiwanese.

There is no digital voting, no postal voting. Every eligible voter must travel to the place where they are registered to vote in person. According to a study, this affects at least 32 percent of all eligible voters in Germany and abroad. Nevertheless, the turnout in the local elections in 2018 averaged 63 percent, and in the last presidential election in 2020 it was almost 75 percent.

Taiwanese have lived with the threat of China since 1949. But since the beginning of the Ukraine war, it has felt more real to many than before. “The fact that Putin invaded Ukraine shows how quickly aggressive rhetoric can turn into action,” says Chao. He became the first Taiwanese politician to organize a fundraising campaign for Kyiv three days after the invasion of Russia. “For me, Ukraine has a lot of symbolism. Any democracy threatened by an authoritarian power needs the support of other democracies. We have to stick together.”

Since the speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, visited Taiwan in early August, to the irritation of Beijing, China has been conducting military exercises around Taiwan's coast. There were 17 Chinese military aircraft and three naval vessels in close proximity to the island last weekend, according to Taiwan's defense ministry.

A drone crossed the center line, considered the unofficial but otherwise widely respected border between China and Taiwan. Three fighter jets entered Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). Assuming his historic third term in mid-October, Xi Jinping announced that China "will never waive the right to use force" on the Taiwan issue.

People are concerned with how Taipei should deal with China. More than 42 percent of all Taiwanese exports go to China. The economies of both countries are closely linked. Some election candidates have close ties to the Chinese Communist Party or Chinese companies.

They are backed by pro-China media in Taiwan. Before the pandemic, religious groups or local politicians from Taiwan were often invited to all-inclusive trips to China. This week, a colonel in the Taiwanese army was convicted of receiving 560,000 New Taiwan dollars in bribes from the Chinese Communist Party. He signed a letter stating that he would surrender in the event of war.

China is also trying to influence Taiwan digitally. According to Sweden's Digital Society Project, Taiwan has been the world's most fake news destination for nine years in a row. The disinformation mainly comes from social media platforms and often originates from China.

But the Taiwanese are resolutely opposed. Workshops on physical as well as digital defense against China are offered in Taipei. In the Kuma Academy, participants learn how to put on a pressure bandage, but also how to protect their mobile phone from being tracked.

“Since the pandemic, China's digital warfare has intensified. Above all, we convey to young people that this can be the first step towards a real war,” says academy founder Puma Shen.

According to politician Chao, the stakes in the election are high. At the local level, the main competitor of the DPP presidential party is the Kuomintang. It was party founder Chiang Kai-shek who translated from China to Taiwan in 1949 and proclaimed the Republic of China. She advocates an exchange with Beijing. Chao counters. "Democracy is our best defense against authoritarian aggression," he says. Taiwan is "up front" on the front line against authoritarian regimes.