September 19, 2020
THE BENEFITS OF A FASCIST INTERLUDE:
Taiwan Bids Farewell to 'Mr. Democracy' (Reuters, September 19, 2020)
Taiwan bid farewell on Saturday to late president Lee Teng-hui, dubbed "Mr. Democracy" for ending autocratic rule in favor of free elections and championing Taiwan's separate identity from China.Lee's memorial service took place in the shadow of Chinese war games, as did his election as Taiwan's first democratic leader in 1996. China claims the island as its own territory.Lee was president from 1988 to 2000.Lee's greatest act of defiance was becoming Taiwan's first democratically elected president in March 1996, achieved with a landslide following eight months of intimidating war games and missile tests by China in waters around the island.
Not only did Taiwan naturally evolve into a democracy but, having avoided Communism, it has a GDP per capita that is 2.5 times that of the PRC.
Posted by Orrin Judd at September 19, 2020 7:29 AM