The American Christian Science Monitor published an editorial on the 29th, aiming at China’s recent crackdown on anti-blockade protests against the “blank paper revolution” and authoritarian rulers not being supervised by public opinion, pointing out that this is the institutional distance difference between democratic Taiwan and authoritarian China.

The picture shows that the Democratic Progressive Party suffered heavy losses in local elections last Saturday. President Tsai Ing-wen announced her resignation as chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party.

(Associated Press)

[Compiled Yang Fuyi/Taipei Report] The American Christian Science Monitor (Christian Science Monitor) published an editorial on the 29th, aiming at China’s recent suppression of anti-blockade protests against the “blank paper revolution” and authoritarian rulers who are not supervised by public opinion. Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen He was responsible for the defeat in local elections and resigned as the chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party. He pointed out that this is the institutional distance between democratic Taiwan and dictatorship China: Compared with dictatorship China, the government used severe police suppression to respond to angry people’s protests. sentence.

The editorial pointed out that when protesters across China last weekend demanded that Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping step down and take responsibility for his harsh "zeroing" policy, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, who is only 100 miles away and the chairman of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, is Because of the voters' criticism of the epidemic and epidemic prevention, he humbly accepted the defeat and stepped down.

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This editorial quoted President Tsai’s post on Facebook after the 9-in-1 local election, “We humbly accept... the decision of the people of Taiwan”, pointing out that an important reason for the DPP’s defeat in county-level elections is that In addition, President Tsai responded clumsily when the number of COVID-19 infections surged earlier this year; moreover, the government faced controversy over the handling of vaccines after its success in preventing the outbreak at the beginning of the 2020 pandemic.

In China, the official response to popular anger over COVID-19 policies, especially the lockdown of metropolitan areas, has been harsh police repression, the editorial said.

In sharp contrast, similar dissatisfaction in Taiwan was able to peacefully introduce a thriving democracy, resulting in the election victory of the main opposition party, the Kuomintang; even the former anti-epidemic commander Chen Shih-chung was defeated in the Taipei mayoral election.

The editorial said that China touted its authoritarian model as the best in the world, but President Tsai's response to her party's defeat in Taiwan revealed an important quality that is rarely seen in authoritarian countries: as after Tsai Ing-wen's 2016 election , her first instruction to the DPP and supporters is to "be humble, be humble."

The editorial said that after the number of confirmed cases of the pandemic in Taiwan increased in June last year, Tsai Ing-wen said: "As president, I want to express my deepest regret and apology."

The editorial concludes that, unlike China, elected leaders must accept approval or criticism from voters. John Keane, director of the Institute of Democracy and Human Rights at the University of Sydney, wrote on Tsai Ing-wen’s 2016 speech, “Human humility is the feeling of They themselves are people who live on the earth", the English word humility (humility) comes from humus (humus).

The Chinese protesters have said it all in their actions.