Taiwan's Young Democracy

With the Taiwanese election still contested by the apparent loser, Nationalist Party candidate Lien Chan, China is predictably trying to leverage the situation to interfere in Taiwan's affairs and, if possible, derail the island nation's democratic experiment. Today comes word that Beijing is warning that it won't allow Taiwan to descend into chaos -- this from the government that massacred its own people in Tiananmen Square 15 years ago this June. (This link takes you to declassified documents describing that event.)

"We will not sit by unconcerned should the post-election situation in Taiwan get out of control, leading to social turmoil, endangering the lives and property of our compatriots and affecting stability across the Taiwan Strait," said the New China News Agency today. Not that the mainland has had any elections itself, nor has it been free from chaos.

The assassination attempt on President Chen Shui-bian earlier this week, and the conspiracy theories to which it has given birth, mark serious challenges to Taiwan's budding democratic institutions. They do not, however, open the door to meddling from the mainland. The US must make clear that it will not allow China to use the disputed election in Taiwan as a pretext for interference in the island's internal affairs.