May 20-26, 2004

city beat

Democracy in Action

say you want a constitution: Penn grad student Hsiaowei Kuan flew to Taiwan just to vote. Photo By: Michael T. Regan

A Penn grad student takes voting rights to new levels.

by Helen i-lin Hwang

Hsiaowei Kuan doesn't understand why foreign friends joke that she'll be president of Taiwan one day. Perhaps it's because the island government recently re-elected a female vice president to a second term. Or maybe it's because she flew halfway across the globe to vote in its second democratic election. The fact that the 32-year-old University of Pennsylvania graduate student hopes to have a role in rewriting the Taiwan's constitution likely has something to do with it.

What Kuan does understand is that today's presidential inauguration marks one of the biggest moments in Taiwan's modern history. It will be the independent island's largest state affair, with 15 heads of state and 70 delegations from other countries expected to attend President Chen Shui-bian's swearing-in for a second term.

President Bush is said to be closely monitoring any moves that could change Taiwanese relations with China, as the communist nation still regards Taiwan as a renegade province. Chen is widely seen as pushing for sovereignty, which has angered Beijing and put the U.S. in the position of placating China while defending but not officially recognizing Taiwan.

Mired in controversy ranging from Chen's razor-thin victory to his getting shot the day before the election, Taiwan's budding democracy is full of surprises. But that's why Kuan was compelled to fly home to vote on March 20 when many American college students were on spring break.

Kuan is working on her doctoral degree, specializing in constitutional law. Upon completing her course load, she plans to return home to become a politically active university professor and legal scholar. Coming to the U.S. for graduate work bolsters political credibility at home. That, she hopes, will place her in prime position to participate when scholars gather to redraft Taiwan's constitution, as Chen has vowed to do. (Both the president and vice president were trained as lawyers.) Kuan, a political feminist, will be finishing her dissertation at Penn when the constitution work is set to begin.

Already, Taiwanese students at Penn are paying close attention to the island's politics. Like many born in the early '70s, Kuan notes how she grew up at the tail end of a generation of activism. She said they were "influenced by social movements" as they watched martial law end in 1987 and voted in the first democratic election, held in 2000.

According to U.S. Census figures, 145,000 Taiwanese people live in the U.S. They can vote in Taiwan if they hold a Taiwanese passport and can prove they have lived there at some point with "hometown domicile" registration. Jack Lee of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, Taiwan's de facto consulate in New York, says that nearly 300,000 Taiwanese worldwide returned to their native country to vote. There are no absentee ballots.

What happened in the March election resembles United States politics, circa 2000.

Chen and Vice President Annette Lu, representing the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), won 50.1 percent of the votes to beat Chinese nationalist opponents Lien Chan and James Soong. Having lost by fewer than 30,000 votes, the opposition demanded a recount because of 337,297 invalid ballots that registered votes for neither party. The recount -- during which the Taipei Times reported officials finding a ballot stamped "All of you are bastards" -- started May 10. The Times also reported that most questionable ballots seemed to be for DPP but were invalidated because the ballots were stamped wrong.

Where the U.S. and Taiwan elections differ, however, is in turnout. Of Taiwan's 16.5 million eligible voters, more than 80 percent voted. At a recent meeting of several Taiwanese Penn students, a mock election nearly paralleled the voting pattern in Taiwan. Though most of the students did not return to vote, two would've voted for Chen and Lu, two would've voted for the Lien-Soong ticket, and two would've intentionally thrown their votes.

Kuan says she's confident that the president and vice president are the nation's rightful leaders. Now, she's hoping to be invited to join an advisory committee that will help decide whether to call Taiwan by its generally known name or continue referring to it as part of the Republic of China. Another important issue is the restructuring of a government that has five branches, or yuan, of legislative, executive, judicial, control (censorship and impeachment) and examination (based on the Chinese educational system of scholarship exams).

"Taiwan still has [a] very long and rough road to go," she explained in a letter sent to colleagues and friends. "No matter [how] quiet or tumultuous, the revolution has not finished."