Tracking Number: 133777
Title: "Calls Taiwan elections 'Moment of Triumph'."
Senator Claiborne Pell's remarks on the Senate floor regarding recent elections in Taiwan. (900327)
Date: 19900327
Text:
*EPF205
03/27/90 *
(NOTE: PAO/IO SHOULD REVIEW BEFORE DISTRIBUTION)
CALLS TAIWAN ELECTIONS "A MOMENT OF TRIUMPH"
(Text: Pell remarks of March 26 before Senate) (1020)
Washington -- Senator Claiborne Pell (Democrat of Rhode Island) called the elections in Taiwan a "moment of triumph" for the Tawianese. "We need to support the Taiwanese people in their courageous call for greater freedom and independence...," Pell, chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific told members of the Senate March 26.
Following is the text of Pell's remarks as they appeared in the March 26 Congressional Record:
(begin text)
Remarks by PELL (D-RI) ELECTIONS IN TAIWAN: A MOMENT OF TRIUMPH FOR THE TAIWANESE (CR page S-3161, 88 lines) Attributed to PELL (D-RI)
Mr. PELL: Mr. President, Eastern Europe, Central and Latin America are not the only places in the world where democracy is emerging from the long, cold winter of dictatorship.
In Taiwan, thousands of protestors, mainly students, have gathered in a Taipei city park to declare their support for greater democracy just as Chinese students gathered last spring in Tiananmen Square. However, unlike in China, rather than being brutally suppressed, their voices have real hope of being heard.
We need to support the Taiwanese people in their courageous call for greater freedom and independence from the stultifying oppression of 40 years of Kuomintang rule.
We can take some encouragement from the actions taken by President Lee Teng-hui, a native Taiwanese, who has just been elected to a 6-year term, despite an effort by hard- liners in the Nationalist Party to replace him.
Having already taken determined action in the past toward democracy, President Lee will surely heed the call for greater reform at a faster pace. In this spirit, I commend and congratulate him for this leadership.
Last December President Lee presided over the first officially contested elections since 1949. At that time elections were held for 101 seats in the national legislature, the Legislative Yuan, 16 county executive positions called magistrates, several city mayors, and seats on two city councils and the Taiwan Provincial Assembly. The results sent a clear signal that the Taiwanese people want change.
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As noted the Deputy Secretary General of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, Tsai Shih-yuan, "it was a big victory for the opposition]"
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won 38 percent of the popular vote in city and county executive races winning 6 out of 21, including the biggest prize of all -- the executive post in Taipei county. The KMT received just 53 percent of the vote rather than the projected 70 percent. In the Legislative Yuan, the DPP increased its membership from 11 to 21 seats, giving it enough members to introduce legislation.
These important victories were achieved despite tremendous odds -- the DPP has only 20,000 members and the KMT's is estimated at 1 to 2.5 million out of an electorate of about 12 million -- and large hurdles.
The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) in an excellent pre-election report, entitled "A Moment In Political Transition: The December 1989 Elections In Taiwan," observed that the "KMT retains near total control of almost all political, social, economic and media institutions in Taiwan," ensuring "the KMT numerous institutional advantages in the current campaign, including: control of the television and radio, vast financial resources, a cooperative police and judiciary, as well as considerable informal influence over the most influential economic, social and cultural organizations."
Importantly, the issue of Taiwan's independence was also prominently raised in this election despite legal prohibitions against such discussion. This indicates both new flexibility on the part of the government as well as the continued importance of this issue to the Taiwanese people. Twenty DPP candidates in favor of independence won election, seven of these to parliament.
However, the elections in December and March also illuminate continued problems in the Taiwanese political system. In the Legislative Yuan elections, for example, only 101 out of 292 were contested. The majority of 162 continue to be filled with holdovers from the mainland and 29 were appointed by the KMT to represent overseas Chinese. The president was elected by a 752 member National Assembly controlled by 668 KMT delegates, also holdovers from 1949. The voice of the Taiwanese people is still a minority voice in their homeland.
But the winds of change can be felt this spring. Following the December elections, President Lee promised more democratic reforms stating that the vote "indicate(d) the various reform measures undertaken by the Government in recent years had failed to meet the public's expectations."
President Lee has met with the demonstrators in Taipei's Chiang K'ai-shek Memorial Park -- a clear indication of his desire to accommodate new political voices. He has also proposed a meeting with the DPP and other groups in a national convention to discus Taiwan's problems.
This is clear evidence that change is occurring in Taiwan.
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I hope it will lead to substantial reform in several areas, including an examination of possible constitutional changes that would further institutionalize and preserve democratic practices, guarantees for freedom of speech, elections for other members of the Legislative Yuan, loosening of visa restrictions on overseas Taiwanese or Taiwanese-Americans seeking to return to Taiwan, and a release of political prisoners.
In particular, I hope that Shih Ming-Teh will be released. This prisoner- of-conscience has been jailed for 25 years. He is Taiwan's Nelson Mandela. First arrested in 1962, he was jailed until 1977. He was arrested again in January 1980 for his role in the formation of an opposition magazine and demonstrations on behalf of democracy and independence. He has been in jail ever since. His American wife, Linda Arrigo, was deported by the Government. Amnesty for Shih Ming-Teh would send a clear signal of the Government's desire to bury the problems of the past, moving forward to a democratic future.
In an advertisement placed in American papers following December's elections, the Taiwanese Government saluted the result and promised that there would be "continued political and social stability on Taiwan." I believe that promise can only be achieved if the Government continues to recognize and respond to the Taiwanese people's call for democracy.
(end text)
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File Identification: 03/27/90, EP-205
Product Name: Wireless File
Product Code: WF
Keywords: PELL, CLAIBORNE; TAIWAN-US RELATIONS; TAIWAN/Politics & Government;
ELECTION RESULTS; GOVERNMENT REFORMS; LEE TENG-HUI; POLITICAL PARTIES
Document Type: TXT
Thematic Codes: 140; 2DE
Target Areas: EA
PDQ Text Link: 133777
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