From China Elections and Governance:
This year, as the direct and democratic election of the Taiwanese regional leadership drew near, I was interested for two reasons. Firstly, I wanted to get a real picture of the Taiwanese popular election and its political manifestations. Secondly, I felt that the direction of Taiwan’s future depended on which party leader was elected president. Therefore, on the day of March 22, 2008 I paid very close attention to news stories concerning Taiwan’s presidential election. On some websites there were play-by-play updates and pictures depicting the Taiwanese voters at the polls. On portal websites and main media outlets, however, the content and analysis concerning the election were markedly dull. Reports on the election had been watered down, even trivialized.
The lack of detailed coverage by Mainland media is fundamentally shortsighted. Taiwan is a part of China and this major political event, the popular election for president, is also one of China’s major political events. If we are to devote ourselves to the reunification of Taiwan with the mainland, we cannot focus on one more than the other. Instead, Mainland Chinese should be able to witness Taiwan’s popular election for president on television. Not only will Mainlanders be better able to understand Taiwan’s particular political system, but in the process, they will also have a greater understanding of the political lives of their compatriots. Moreover, Taiwan is a region of China. Regardless of when the Mainland is able to carry out direct, popular elections of leaders at the village, county, municipal and provincial levels, the Taiwanese experience can be used as a source of reference. After all, the election in Taiwan is a direct democratic election in a region of China that has more than 20 million people.
