Taiwan vs China: A Fragile Democracy

To China Taiwan is a breakaway province that must return to the fold. To its 24 million inhabitants it is a sovereign state with its own constitution and democratically elected leaders. Now that Hong Kong has been brought into line, Taiwan remains determined to stand up as a vibrant, young democracy. But it won’t be easy. Since the Sunflower Movement in 2014 when the young came out to prevent an economic agreement with China, citizen groups have been fighting for the transparency of institutions. As Audrey Tang, Minister of Digital, explains, the idea, whenever possible, is to put the citizen at the heart of the political process and its decisions. But this new generation is at odds with the old one who experienced dictatorship and for whom democracy does not necessarily mean economic prosperity. Every day Taiwan counters millions of cyber attacks that aim to destabilize its institutions and exacerbate divisions in society. In Taiwan democracy was born at the same time as the Internet, in the mid-1990s. Twenty years later the spoiled children of “Made in Taiwan” decided to take their destiny and that of their island in hand. They are hackers, programmers, developers, ministers. Their weapon: lines of code. Their project: to make Taiwan the world laboratory of direct democracy. Their method: total transparency.