Illustration: Liu Rui

The candidates for the Taiwanese elections officially started their campaigns with a televised debate early this month. The debate Saturday is the last of the three televised debates. It is the first time Taiwan has introduced televised debate into the leadership election, which is seen as a significant step for Taiwanese democracy.

Taiwan transitioned from an authoritarian government to a democratic one in a relatively peaceful way. Former US President George W. Bush once called Taiwan a "beacon of democracy" to the world and in recent years, there have been constant voices calling for the Chinese mainland to follow Taiwan's path. Some hold that democracy is a necessary premise for the unification between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan. I can't agree with these suggestions.

The political systems of the mainland and Taiwan are different. Certainly, a similarity in political systems will contribute to re-unification, but it's not the decisive factor. 

Democracy takes different forms in different regions. The Taiwanese experience is just one model for social democratic systems in East Asian society. There is also the South Korean democratic model, the Japanese model and the Thai model.

Taiwan and the mainland are in different stages of development. Taiwan had an earlier economic boom than the mainland, and the Taiwanese have a relatively high awareness for voting. But even under these conditions, Taiwan experienced great confusions during the process of democratization.

The Chinese mainland's situation is more complicated than Taiwan. With a large population and 56 nationalities, democracy for the whole of China is not merely a case of "one person, one vote."

The Chinese mainland should explore its own way for democratization rather than blindly copying Taiwan. It should be a gradual process.

Admittedly, the mainland lags behind in promoting political reform. But the reform calls for patience and steady promotion. Nowadays, the most important thing for China, in proceeding with democratization, is letting more people participate in political life, and making the government listen to grass-roots voices and respond to them in policymaking.          

The Chinese mainland is also making efforts to move forward democratization. But the reality that the overall society of the Chinese mainland lacks a certain level of civilization and the absence of democratic awareness among citizens causes many problems. Take the village elections, where vote buying is commonly seen.

Chinese mainland voters still don't have awareness strong enough to vote independently. Their voting is easily manipulated by money, religion or family connections. A popular voting system should be promoted under mature conditions. But based on the current situation of the Chinese mainland, the so-called democracy of "one person, one vote" will only facilitate separatists and damage the stability of society.

Taiwan's situation is simpler than that of the Chinese mainland, but it still endured a messy situation during the process of democratization. Too many elections occupy substantive political resources and politicians are busy winning votes rather than providing effective service. Taiwanese have become accustomed to election scandals.

The increasing wealth gap has further destabilized Taiwanese society. The fruits of Taiwan's economic development are not shared by the common people, but by a limited number.

I am not denying Taiwanese democracy. Taiwan is going through an unprecedented trial by implementing democracy and we should respect the Taiwanese people's choice. Over 20 years of development has made Taiwanese democracy more mature.

Taiwan and the Chinese mainland should both further improve their political systems. The Chinese mainland could learn from Taiwan and try to avoid the negative influences that democratic confusion brought to Taiwan during the process of its democratization.  

The article was compiled by Global Times reporter Yu Jincui based on an interview with Li Fei, deputy director at the Taiwan Research Center of Xiamen University. yujincui@globaltimes.com.cn

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