Ma sees Taiwan influence China

Judging from his inaugural address, the newly inaugurated President Ma has inherited this ambition from his former mentor.

Observing that Taiwan has just completed a second democratic turnover of power, with the Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang, regaining the presidency eight years after having lost it to Chen Shui-bian and his Democratic Progressive Party, Ma said: “Ethnic Chinese communities around the world have laid their hopes on this crucial political experiment. By succeeding, we can make unparalleled contributions to the democratic development of all ethnic Chinese communities. This responsibility is ours to fulfill.”

While Singapore can also be considered an ethnic Chinese community, by far the largest ethnic Chinese community in the world is that in mainland China. Ma seems to be saying that Taiwan’s success in its experimentation with democracy will contribute to the eventual democratization of the mainland. And, he added, Taiwan has become “a beacon of democracy to Asia and the world.”

Ma started to work for Chiang Ching-kuo at the age of 31 and continued this association until the president’s death seven years later in 1988. Ma, who had obtained a doctor of juridical science degree from Harvard in 1984, was formally responsible for the promulgation of laws and decrees as well as drafting the safekeeping of confidential documents. However, as Chiang’s English secretary, he had a front-row seat as he viewed Chiang transform Taiwan from a police state into something resembling a democracy.

Chiang told the world, through Katherine Graham, then publisher of the Washington Post, in October 1986 that he was planning to lift martial law, which had been in place for 38 years, thus paving the way for democracy in Taiwan. In that historical interview, Ma acted as Chiang’s interpreter.

On January 12, 1988, the task force on parliamentary reform passed a proposal drafted by Ma to end the era of mainlander control of Taiwan’s political process. President Jiang died the same day, before Ma could report this news to him.

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