Taiwan: A Positive Force in the World

Lin Chia-lung recently became the first Taiwan foreign minister in nearly 30 years to visit the Polish parliament. After trips to four European nations, he shared his thoughts with us on the 30th anniversary of Taiwan’s first direct presidential election. In his younger days, as a class president at Chien Kuo High School, Lin circulated pro-­democracy magazines; later, he took part in the Wild Lily Student Movement and joined sit-ins at Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. During the 1996 Taiwan Strait Missile Crisis, he helped mobilize overseas-­based Taiwanese students to launch the March 22 Global Vigil for Taiwan’s Democracy. Today, as foreign minister, he advocates “integrated diplomacy.” His life and career have overlapped with key moments in Taiwan’s democratic transition.

Political awakening and campus activism

What inspired Lin to go into politics? In high school, after the Kao­hsiung Incident he began reading pro-­democracy periodicals and works by writers such as Li Ao. He realized that there was a huge gulf between what he was reading and what he was being taught.

Studying political science at National Taiwan University (NTU), he turned his attention to exploring history, institutions, and knowledge. He sat in on classes by NTU’s “four poisonous weeds”—professors known for their pro-­democracy positions in the martial law era.

“I not only read the complete works of Sun Yat-sen, but also books from China about the conflict between the Chinese Communist Party and the Kuomintang. Because I didn’t carry much family baggage, I could explore different discourses on my own terms.” Lin believes this awakening, combined with his innate passion, naturally caused him to think about and challenge established boundaries, and ultimately to join the campus democracy movement.

In that era, articles that students submitted for publication had to be reviewed by campus military instructors. During various protests Lin was threatened with demerits and expulsion, but he remained active in the campus democracy movement. He drafted an organizational charter for direct election of the NTU student association president, called for the withdrawal of military instructors, and advocated for university autonomy and reform of the University Act. The campaign later developed into the Wild Lily Student Movement. This process of “learning through participation and participating through learning” helped nurture Taiwan’s democracy.

During the Wild Lily Student Movement, thousands of university students from across Taiwan held a protest sit-in on the plaza outside the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall.

From missile crisis to democracy vigil

1996 was an unforgettable year for Lin, who was then a doctoral student at Yale University and remained closely engaged with Taiwan’s democracy movement. In June 1995, President Lee Teng-hui had visited his US alma mater, Cornell University, drawing strong protests from China. Military intimidation reached a peak in March 1996, when China fired missiles into the Taiwan Strait.

Lin recalls how in those days before widespread internet access, he and fellow overseas students Max Lo, Lin Jih-wen, and Lai I-chung connected with some 100 overseas Taiwanese organizations worldwide by phone, fax, and email to stage a global vigil for democracy in Taiwan, to be held on March 22. They aimed to inform the international community that “Taiwan’s future must be decided by the people of Taiwan themselves.”

On the eve of the election, Lin and his fiancée, Liao Wan-ju, returned to Taiwan and joined peaceful sit-ins and candlelight vigils in downtown Taipei, adding the final piece to the global action launched overseas.

In 1996, on the eve of Taiwan’s first direct presidential election, Lin and his fiancée Liao Wan-ju returned to Taiwan to join student and youth groups in a sit-in in downtown Taipei. This photo that Lin took of Liao in front of street barricades clearly shows the date: March 22. (courtesy of Lin Chia-lung)

The resilience of Taiwanese democracy

Over the last three decades, says Lin, Taiwan’s democracy has shown its resilience through many trials. Today, rapid changes in the international landscape and the rise of authoritarianism present new challenges.

He says firmly: “Many people frame relations between Taiwan and China as a cross-strait issue. But today’s China—whether in terms of political and military intimidation or transnational repression—is a problem not just for Taiwan, but for the whole world. Taiwan is not the problem, it is the solution!”

As foreign minister, Lin believes that diplomacy must do more than expand Taiwan’s international space: we must also work with like-minded countries to safeguard the shared values of democracy, freedom, and human rights.

Thirty years ago, the people of Taiwan opened a new chapter in democracy with their ballots. Thirty years on, democratic Taiwan has become a Taiwan for the world. Having traveled this arduous road, Taiwan understands the value of democracy all the more deeply—and is all the more willing to share its democratic experience with the world. 

Lin Chia-lung has proposed the Diplomatic Allies Prosperity Project to leverage Taiwan’s technological and economic advantages to help diplomatic allies become global strategic partners with Taiwanese industries.