President Ma Ying-jeou met on the afternoon of August 22 with foreign guests attending the 2011 Assembly for Democracy in Asia, and during the meeting reiterated that the government will continue with its efforts to help democracy take even stronger root here.
The president remarked that democracy is a value and a way of life. The ROC was Asia's first democratic republic when it was founded and now the nation is celebrating its centenary. However, it has only been in the past 20 or 30 years that the public has begun to enjoy true democracy, he said, adding that many conditions must be in place to pave the way for the development of democracy, and being short even just one link will derail the process.
President Ma stated that in the 30-some years after the ROC was established, civil war prevented the implementation of democracy, but a constitution was enacted in 1946 and implemented starting from the following year. This established the critical framework for constitutional government that would pave the way for democratic development down the road.
The president further explained that efforts during the Chinese Civil War to suppress the communists caused a majority of the articles of the constitution to be suspended. After the government relocated to Taiwan, martial law was in force for 38 years before it was lifted in 1987, he said. Liberalization then gradually began to take place, allowing for the formation of political parties, which marked the true restoration of constitutional democracy. The president added that even during martial law, elections were held in Taiwan for local office and for some central government-level positions, which enabled people to become familiar with a democratic lifestyle. This was extremely important in the subsequent implementation of comprehensive democracy, he remarked.
President Ma said that the ROC to date has directly elected its president four times. He expressed his feeling, however, that regardless of its experience in holding elections, the ROC is still a young democracy and that it still has a long way to go in the process of democratization. One important facet of democracy is protection of human rights, the president said. Consequently, two years ago he signed the instruments of ratification for two United Nations human rights covenants with the hope of bringing human rights standards here in step with the rest of the world. At the same time, the government places great importance on the rights of women and indigenous people, he stated.
The president emphasized that his government has gradually instituted many reforms in the three years since it has been in office that previous administrations had been unable to realize for decades, including an improvement in cross-strait relations, organic restructuring of the central government, reform in local governance, and changes to the national pension and labor annuity systems. President Ma said that the government must act ethically in the process of reform and its leaders must avoid abusing power. It is with this in mind that he has stated on many occasions that under no condition will he intervene in the judicial process and that he will absolutely respect freedom of the press with the hope of creating a truly democratic government.
The delegation, which included over 10 individuals from the United States, Australia, Vietnam, India, and Lithuania, was led by Larry Diamond, coordinator of the democracy program at Stanford University's Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. Their meeting with President Ma was also attended by National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General Chih-kung Liu (劉志攻).