TAIPEI, Taiwan -- On pirate radio stations, in Taoist temples and at wedding banquets, Taiwan's enthusiastic rush toward democracy has reached a fever pitch as the island prepares for a series of unprecedented regional elections today.
At first glance, the elections don't sound like much to get worked up about: Two big cities are to elect a mayor and city council while the rest of the country chooses a governor and provincial assembly. It could be just a vote about trash collection or highways.
But the election is really a key test of Taiwan's willingness to divorce mainland China after 45 years of separation, a development that China has vowed to oppose with force.
It's also a giant step forward in this country's rapid political development -- making Taiwan the most democratic state in Chinese history and standing in sharp contrast with mainland China's autocratic rule.
It's not that Taiwan has suddenly become a model democracy. (( Just ask taxi driver Wu Chian-kun, a firm supporter of the formerly outlawed Democratic Progressive Party.
"The [ruling] Kuomintang is a corrupt party that runs the airwaves and has more money to spend than it knows what to do with," said Mr. Wu, whose car is plastered with opposition DPP stickers and flags.
Tuning to the pirate Voice of Taiwan radio station -- a 24-hour, call-in radio station that the Kuomintang hasn't yet managed to close -- Mr. Wu is happy to hear his opinion confirmed.
The Kuomintang, which fled to Taiwan after losing China's civil war in 1949, has no intention of allowing free elections, a caller to the station said.
"The KMT is made up of thugs," the caller said. "They control the media. You can't trust them, so we better vote them out."
That may sound contradictory -- real thugs don't hold elections, and censors usually don't allow a dozen pirate radio stations to broadcast for months on end. But these elections, in fact, are far from perfect.
Some candidates have promoted violence -- one going so far as to punch the moderator of a public debate, then sue him. Others, such as incumbent Taipei Mayor Huang Ta-chou, use the KMT's pervasive influence in the civil service to mobilize huge parades and rallies.
The press is another problem. Although the pirate radio stations and a new wave of cable television stations give partial relief to the KMT-controlled media, these alternatives don't reach all Taiwanese. Broadcast and print media are so partisan that rational public debate is virtually nonexistent.
Still, Taiwan's dynamic chaos seems to allow candidates to get their message across to almost anyone willing to listen.
The capital city of Taipei, for example, has become a riot of campaign flags and billboards. Almost every bus and taxi carries a campaign message. "Propaganda vans" putter around the street blaring drums, gongs and slogans from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Strong third party
Adding to the cacophony, a strong third party is making a run for major seats. Along with the ruling KMT and the separatist DPP, the New Party -- a KMT splinter group -- has an even chance of winning control of Taipei, Taiwan's political and economic capital of 2.7 million.
If the New Party falters, the DPP is the party likely to win control of Taipei, and thus gain a prominent platform for its message of independence. Either way, the vote is likely to give the Kuomintang its first major electoral defeat since coming to the island 45 years ago.
Voters will elect city councilors in the administrative zones of Taipei and the island's second city of Kaohsiung, a city that seems certain to re-elect the KMT's popular candidate.
Voters outside those two cities will elect the provincial assembly and governor that rule the rest of the country. The KMT seems likely to retain control of the provincial government, although the DPP has narrowed the race behind its slogan: "The first battle in 400 years to change the color of the sky."
To anyone living here, the message is clear: This is the first time since Chinese began emigrating to Taiwan in the 16th century that local people can be masters of their destiny. The island was long ruled by emperors as a remote Chinese province, then as a Japanese colony and, finally, by the 2 million mainland Chinese soldiers and officials who fled to Taiwan with the KMT to establish a "temporary" base until they could recapture the mainland from the Communists.
To redefine relationship
This issue of independence has helped transform today's vote into an international event. Essentially, Taiwan's voters are being asked to redefine the relationship between Taiwan and mainland China.
Should Taiwan formally split from China and declare independence, thus risking Beijing's promised invasion? Or should it reunify with a vastly poorer and more authoritarian motherland?
For the KMT, unification is the answer, but not in the near future. It has been pursuing slow negotiations with mainland China over how to deal with fishing, hijacking and other issues, while pushing other countries to allow Taiwan to enter international organizations, such as the United Nations.
Its policy toward China, however, encouraged the formation of Taiwan's third party, the New Party, which promises clean government and a firmer commitment to reunification.
Meanwhile, the DPP has continued to push for full independence, and promises a future referendum. The party wants to establish a Republic of Taiwan and apply for United Nations membership -- although this would certainly be vetoed by China.
Earlier this year, China reiterated its opposition to Taiwan's independence, reserving the right to use force to reclaim the island.
"The question of ethnic identity -- Are we Chinese or Taiwanese? -- has been raised, and that's a good thing," said Wang Mo-lin, a prominent writer and artist. "We know that electing a mayor or governor won't change our foreign policy, but we can send a signal about our direction."
These issues are crystallized in public speeches around the country. Sometimes featuring electrifying speeches -- and others dull attempts by appointed party bureaucrats trying to become popular politicians -- the rallies have attracted a wide range of people, some still struck by the novelty of being able to say things that landed one in jail a few years back.
The most exciting race is for mayor of Taipei, which features one of the island's most charismatic politician's, DPP mayoral prospect Chen Shui-bien. He started as a lawyer defending dissidents from the KMT in the 1970s and 1980s and has become well known as a corruption-fighting member of the Legislative Branch, the nation's chief lawmaking body.
At a rally earlier this week, he tried to defuse tensions between Chinese born in Taiwan and those who emigrated here 50 years ago.
"In my heart of hearts I don't separate between Taiwanese and mainlanders," said Mr. Chen, flanked by the DPP's green and white flags that a few years ago were illegal. "All I want is a well-run Taipei and Taiwan. If Taiwan is run well, we all have face. If not, we lose it. That's what matters."
His speeches can be rhetorical masterpieces, winding up the crowd and letting it down over and over again as he chops the air for emphasis. And until a few weeks ago, it looked as though he would sweep the race. But Mr. Chen is now being challenged strongly by the New Party's Jaw Shau-kong, a tough guy whose campaign poster shows him with his hand over his heart.
'Secret plan'
At every campaign stop he blasts the KMT for corruption and its supposed "secret plan" to declare independence instead of its stated policy of slow and steady reunification with the mainland. A former KMT member, Mr. Jaw now styles himself as a fearless KMT critic -- in an era, however, when blasting the KMT carries no risks.
Mr. Jaw's constituents include people who want a change but can't bring themselves to vote for the DPP and its program of independence, plus old KMT members who hanker for the good old days of martial law, when people like the DPP's Mr. Chen would have been locked up and shot.
Seemingly left behind is the KMT's Mr. Huang, who eschews the other candidates' rhetoric in favor of the impassive countenance of a traditional Chinese gentleman. Even when greeted by enthusiastic KMT members, Mr. Huang is careful never to crack more than a thin smile and clasp his hands in thanks.
"They're talking about independence or speedy reunification. But what Taiwan needs is continued prosperity and stability," Mr. Huang told a polite audience at a soldier's retirement home.
Whoever wins in Taipei or the rest of Taiwan, the elections mark a watershed in Chinese democracy. Taiwan's Legislative Branch held its first democratic elections two years ago, and the president is to be elected in about 14 months. Yet the problem of independence makes the vote less than the happy occasion it might otherwise be.
"Actually, I don't think any of us want to make such decisions," said Wang Te-hou, a stock market investor who was offering incense to the gods at a storefront Taoist temple in Taipei.
"The irony is that most people really just want the status quo and yet none of us can get it. We're being pushed either toward reunification or independence, when what we need is to be left alone."