Contemporary Taiwan :: essays research papers

The process of loosening and democratization increased in chinaware throughout the 1980s. The governments new openness included the recognition of some of its past actions, such as the Nationalist governments massacre of thousands of native Taiwanese in 1947. Although friction has lessened between the island Chinese, who make up about(predicate) 85% of the population, and those who came from the mainland, it has remained a problem. Martial law, in effect since 1949, was lifted in 1987 and many jailed political dissidents were released. Opposition parties were legalized in Jan., 1989. Relations with mainland china were eased somewhat during the 1980s so that Taiwanese were allowed to visit after(prenominal) 1987, but the crackdown at Tiananmen Square in 1989 fanned Taiwanese discredit of the mainland. 15 Chiang Ching-kuo died in 1988 and was replaced by Lee Teng-hui, a Taiwan native, who was reelected by the national assembly in 1990. In 1991, Lee ended indispensability rule , and all the members of the national assembly, many of whom were mainland delegates originally elected in 1947, stepped down. In elections for a new national assembly, the ruling Kuomintang (KMT), which continued to promise union with the mainland, held on to a majority, but the Democratic Progressive company, strongly advocating an self-governing Republic of Taiwan, won nearly a third of the seats the KMT hold its hold on the legislature throughout the 1990s. 16 In 1995 and 1996, capital of Red China conducted missile tests and ultimately military exercises near Taiwan in an apparent movement to inhibit Taiwanese moves toward democracy and independence. In 1996, President Lee, who was opposed by the Beijing government, won a landslide victory in Taiwans first-ever direct elections for president. A major earthquake hit exchange Taiwan in Sept., 1999, killing more than 2,000 people and causing long infrastructure damage. 17 In the 2000 Taiwanese presidential election, a KMT s tart resulted in the election of the opposition candidate, Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive party the KMT retained control of the legislature.