Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

The political situation in Taiwan is heading toward a time of crucial change. Although the nation continues to be called the Republic of China (ROC) domestically, the overwhelming consensus is that its name is Taiwan, not the ROC. Given the argument that the “status quo” has to be maintained, the road to reform consists of cautious advances toward national reconstruction. With this awareness, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) influence is growing as she leads the DPP toward ever-widening political support.

When former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) published his book The Road to Democracy — Taiwan’s Pursuit of Identity in 1999, he was soon to leave office, and had started to sum up the major achievements of his 12 years as president of the Republic of China (ROC).

Most people are quite aware that the political reform Lee was pushing in those days went beyond the democratization of the nation; he also wanted to realize a new formula for Taiwan: a “ROC Taiwan” or “the ROC on Taiwan.”