A Democracy's Growing Pains

Yesterday's report that, while visiting Taiwan, Chinese diplomat Zhang Mingqing was attacked, hit, and shoved to the ground by angry pro-independence Taiwanese should be deeply embarrassing to the Taiwan government, and indeed all Taiwanese. The video of the old man being knocked around is not a pretty sight:

Yet, after the diplomatic bluster fades, I hope the incident isn't seen as too much of a poor reflection on Taiwan. The place is a young, rough-and-tumble democracy, and really feels that way. I imagine it's not all that different from how the US would have felt even in the late 19th century, when fights broke out on the Senate floor and gangs roved the streets to gin up votes on election day.

True, Taiwan's legislature does occasionally devolve into brawls. And yes, most political protests feature a heavy dose of pushing and shoving on the sidelines. And alright, the island's (many) political news channels serve up a steady diet of political stunts, intemperate yelling, and poorly founded rumors. It's all sort of like watching an overeager 16-year-old driving a car - their heart is just a little too much in this whole democracy thing.

But I'd take Taiwan's uncouth democracy over China's autocracy any day of the week. The process may not be pretty, but the Taiwanese have a genuinely responsive government, and when they disagree, they can voice their disagreements to their heart's content (and they do). Scandals don't fester for years, and rural residents don't seethe in quiet anger that occasionally erupts into mob violence, and massive show projects don't go forward without widespread public debate.

Sadly, China's leadership will probably take this incident as a lesson in the pitfalls of an overly democratic system. I hope the rest of the world doesn't take the same lesson, because underneath the (truly lamentable) buffoonery, Taiwan's democracy still has a lot going for it.