Enrich Your Perspective through Experiencing Taiwan and South Korea Dr. Helen Liu Assistant Professor Department of Politics and Public Administration Prepared for HKU GCSI Programme June 11th 2014 A Tailor-Made Program just for YOU! • Unique learning initiatives to enrich students’ education by expanding their horizons and enabling them to integrate academic knowledge with first-hand practical experience • But, how can we design a program that can best capture the unique aspects of Taiwan and South Korea for our students to experiecne? – Three Consideration Factors Focus on Social and Political Aspects in Taiwan an South Korea The most unique aspects The strengths of our partners Comparable Among Three Places What Aspects Capture of Lifes of Taiwanese and Korean? A Story of A Taiwanese… The Strengths of Our Partners Political Party Development and Transition: A Process of Democratization (Speaker: Professor Jih-wen Lin, Department of Political Science, National Chengchi University) Does the Media only Influence Public Opinion? (Speaker: Dr. Shih-Che Tang, Department of Communication, National Chung Cheng University) Divided Taiwan: “Green” South/ “Blue” North (Speaker: Professor Nathan Batto, Institute of Political Science, Academia Sinica) Understanding the Domestic Politics: Democratization and Civil Society (Speaker: Professor Sun-hyuk Kim, Department of Public Administration, KU) The Promise and Perils of Social Welfare System (Speaker: Professor Young Jun Choi, Department of Public Administration, KU) Seoul: History of Urban Development (from 1960 to 2013) (Speaker: Professor Myoung-Gu, Kang, Department of Urban Planning and Design, University of Seoul) Comparable Experiences in Taiwan, South Korea, and Hong Kong Sunflower Student Movement “Taiwan students occupy legislature over China trade deal” http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/19/us-taiwan-legislature-idUSBREA2I04S20140319 Sunflower Student Movement Items Summary Duration 23 days (18 March 2014 – 10 April 2014) Description Coalition of students and civic groups occupying the Legislative Yuan and later the Executive Yuan of Taiwan Cause Passing of Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement (CSSTA) by ruling party Kuomintang at the Legislative Yuan without clause-by-clause scrutiny Aim To halt the enforcement of and legislate supervision over CSSTA Guang Da Xing No. 28 Incident “Taiwan Ends Sanctions Against Philippines Over Shooting Death” http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/10/world/asia/taiwan-drops-sanctions-against-philippinesover-fishermans-killing.html?_r=0 Sinking of the MV Sewol “South Korean president to disband coastguard in wake of ferry disaster” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/19/south-korean-president-disband-coastguard-ferry Bombardment of Yeonpyeong “North Korean artillery hits South Korean Island” http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-11818005 Questions to Keep in Mind when experiencing… • How do the political systems and social development affect the identify of Taiwan and South Korea? Economic development? And, the life of the people? • How do the civil society and private sector play a role in the society in Taiwan and South Korea? • Similarities or Differences to Hong Kong? Political Background of Taiwan Items Summary Cross-Strait Relations • PRC Government claims sovereignty over Taiwan, promoting peaceful reunification but refusing to exclude military mobilization • KMT Government retains Taiwan’s status quo under the Three Nos (No unification, No independence, No use of force) within constitutional framework Historical Background • After being defeated by the Communists Party in 1949, the Nationalist government withdrew to Taiwan, adopting the Constitution of Republic of China and establishing the capital of Taiwan in Taipei Opinion Poll (Current) • “Rarely in Taiwan’s 17 years of democracy have opinion polls painted a president as unpopular as Ma Ying-jeou” (The Economist, 2013) Political Background of Taiwan Items Summary • Central government consists of Office of President and five branches (Executive / Legislative / Judicial / Examination / Control Yuan) Government & • President has authority to promulgate laws under Constitution of the Republic of China Administration • Executive Yuan (Taiwan’s Cabinet) is the major policy-making body • Legislative Yuan (Taiwan’s Parliament) is the law-making body Political Development • Two main political parties: Kuomintang (KMT) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) • January 2012: Dr Ma Ying-jeou of KMT won presidential election with 51.6% of vote / KMT retained majority of 64/113 seats in Legislature Political Background of South Korea Items Summary • Under presidential system, power is shared by three branches (Executive led by the President / Legislature as a single-house National Assembly / Judiciary) Government & • President holds supreme power over all executive functions within constitutional framework Administration • Legislature is mainly elected by popular vote (246 seats) and the rest is distributed proportionately among political parties (54 seats) Political Development • Four main political parties: New Frontier Party (NFP), New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD), Unified Progressive Party (UPP), Justice Party • February 2013: Park Geun Hye of NFP won presidential election / NFP retained majority of 156/297 seats in Legislature Political Background of South Korea Items Summary Foreign Relations • Relations with North Korea are tense and remain a political challenge e.g. North Korea conducted long-range rocket test (December 2012) and its third nuclear test (February 2013) in contravention of UN Security Council resolutions • Closely allied with the US since the Korean War (around 28500 US troops are currently in South Korea) Historical Background • In the aftermath of Japanese occupation of Korea in World War II, Korea was divided at 38th parallel north according to the UN arrangement. • Following Korean War, the two separate governments stabilized into the existing political entities of North and South Korea. Opinion Poll (Current) • “Exit polls from South Korea’s local elections suggested President Park Geun-hye wasn’t likely to face a significant blow from a vote that had been billed by some as a referendum on the government’s handling of the recent ferry disaster” (Wall Street Journal, 2014) Thank you! • Dr. Helen K. Liu – Email: [email protected] – Personal Website: http://helenliu4.wordpress.com