ABSTRACT

Other contributors to this volume have provided a cogent analysis of political communication among and between Chinese communities. Chapters devoted to the Republic of China (ROC) or Taiwan reflect on how the media have communicated the ideas of democracy there and contributed to the successful democratisation of Taiwan’s political system since 1986. Free, competitive and all-inclusive elections to high office help to define democracies (Schumpeter 1976) and are the periods in the political calendar when the benefits of communication are most clearly realised.