ABSTRACT
Taiwan has a long tradition of powerful and vocal media that present a challenge to government strength. Descriptions of the political system - including our own, presented in the previous chapter-have tended to focus on the authoritarian character of KMT governance. Yet when we delve below such superficial analyses we instantly discover the extent to which this same government realised that it was necessary to tolerate a modicum of press freedom. The critical or opposition media provided a non-violent form of opposition, and helped to reinforce the ROC's legitimacy as 'Free China', an image that was especially powerful in its diplomacy with the US (Rawnsley 2000a & 2000c ).
