Democracy under seige by partisan politics, ideology

Chen Yunlin, chairman of China’s semi-official Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), was invited by his Taiwanese counterpart P.K. Chiang of the Strait Exchange Foundation (SEF) to ink four agreements on cross-strait economic cooperation.

Chen was dogged by pro-independence activists mobilized by the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to protest his historic visit.

DPP chairwoman, Tsai Ing-wen, had promised the police to stage “peaceful and rational” protests.

It would have been a good thing if the protests, dubbed “Operation Siege” by opposition organizers, was indeed peaceful and rational as promised. Unfortunately, it turned violent and bloody as the protest eventually spiraled out of control.

More than 100 people, mostly law-enforcement officers, were injured Wednesday night by rock-throwing protesters attempting to break down police barricades outside Taipei’s Grand Hotel in Yuanshan district, where Chen and his 60-member delegation were staying during their 4-day visit.

For five days in a row, Taiwan’s news newspapers and television screens were dominated by stories and images about violent clashes between demonstrators and police. Chen was under siege, unable to go to the central and southern parts of Taiwan which he had been longing to see.

Operation Siege, therefore, was literally a success. However, if its organizers thought it was a victory, they were wrong. It was a pyrrhic victory at best, judging from the high political cost.

A police officer at the scene, who was hit by a flying rock, said he was saddened to see the nation torn apart by politicians and he hated to see “democracy in retreat.” A survey by The China Times showed that 59 percent of the respondents did not support the protest.

When demonstrators hurled Molotov cocktails and stones at police in defiance of the law, it was democracy under attack. Yes, it was democracy in retreat. It was the siege of democracy.

Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen blamed the Ma Ying-jeou administration for the bloody incident because of “government suppression” of free expression. She insisted that the protest was peaceful and rational.

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