As Taiwan marks its Double Tenth Festival today, it can boast a string of achievements to its credit. Taipei, the capital city, has earned the sobriquet as an “intelligent community”. The remote Hualien County has been recognized as a center for organic food. These are in addition to other things that Taiwan can be proud of.

Oct. 10 has a special symbolism for Taiwan as it marks the advent of an open democratic system, prosperous economy and a pluralistic society in its eventful history.

The celebrations provide a solemn moment at which the country’s leaders and people, and their allies and friends can look back on the hard-earned achievements and contemplate how best to accomplish the unfinished tasks ahead. Taiwan deserves to be given a clean bill of health in all aspects of progress and development. In the political and social spectrum, freedom and democracy have taken root since the first opposition party established itself exactly 20 years ago and martial law was lifted a year later.

Moreover, in contrast to the authoritarianism of earlier times, the road to the nation’s first direct presidential election in 1996, first transfer of political power after five decades of rule by a single party in 2000, implementation of constitutional amendments and establishment of the people’s right to referendum were all achieved peacefully.

Another aspect of this multifaceted development is the growth of Taiwan’s civil society. Armed with freedom of the press, speech and association, Taiwanese have expanded their influence in all spheres of the island’s life. Nongovernmental organizations have proliferated and the fourth estate has dedicated itself to overseeing government administration.

The most conspicuous change in Taiwan’s culture, therefore, is a popular confidence, powered by the knowledge that decisions at all levels emanate from the bottom up and are not handed down from above. The Taiwanese people are the true masters of their homeland; sovereignty lies in their hands.

The “people power” of this political reality is also the driving force for democratic reform in Taiwan. No single political leader in Taiwan can claim credit for the island’s democratic reform; this laurel wreath is shared by the island’s 23 million citizens. Nevertheless, acknowledgement must be given to former President Lee Teng-hui and his successor President Chen Shui-bian for their unique contributions, upon which Chen has built a robust framework of constitutional democracy and prosperity as a model many nations seek to copy. It is fitting, therefore, that Chen will lead the nation in celebrating this historic event.

Taipei Deemed ‘Intelligent Community’

This spirit of freedom and initiative has unleashed the people’s power in a different sense, for Taipei was deemed the most intelligent community of 2006 by the New York-based Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) last June 9. The city beat out other communities that were highly intelligent, though ultimately deemed to be not quite as smart as Taipei. These include Cleveland, Ohio; the Kangnan district of Seoul, South Korea; Ichikawa, Japan; Manchester, Great Britain; Tianjin, China; and Waterloo, Canada. These communities and Taipei were the top seven intelligent communities as announced by ICF in January.

Its criteria for the most intelligent community include broadband infrastructure, a knowledgeable workforce, innovation, marketing and “digital democracy”. Deputy Taipei Mayor King Pu-tsung received the award on behalf of Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou, at the ICF annual convention held June 8-9 in New York.

“Currently, wireless access is available in major business areas and mass rapid transit stations throughout Taipei,” King said. He pointed out that science parks had been established in Neihu, Nangang, Beitou and Shihlin to help make the city home to a knowledge-based workforce.

Hualien County a Center for Organic Food

As the largest and the least populated county in Taiwan, Hualien is known for its natural beauty, which has largely been spared the scars of industrialization because of its remote location on the eastern side of the Central Mountain Range. Not surprisingly, much of the country’s economic activity has to do with farming, with one quarter of the population employed in agriculture. Unlike other farming counties, the adverse effects of chemical fertilizers and pesticides have not yet made themselves felt, and some Hualien farmers are reaping the rewards of their recent foray into organic farming. The county had been feeling the heat from rising imports of produce from abroad, including rice from Australia and fruits from Japan and South Korea. So in 2004, County Magistrate Hsieh Shen-san launched the Innocuous Agriculture Development in Hualien program. The aim was to “pass the good land on to our children for future generations, increase the per capita income of local farmers and provide a new direction for them by combining agricultural activities with the leisure industry, thus generating even greater revenue.”

The initial response from the farming community was less than favorable: Farmers were unfamiliar with methods of organic farming and reluctant to give up old techniques, including the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. The director of the county’s Agriculture Bureau and one of the driving forces behind the IADH implementation, Du Li-hwa, recruited 30 demonstration farmers from around the country to try out the organic farming techniques for the first year.

Farmers in Hualien lacked the funding and skills required to establish brand images and reach out to the public in sophisticated marketing campaigns. Du, therefore, began cooperating with four major farmers’ associations to set up logistics in Hualien City and the towns of Shoufong, Guangfu, Fongbin, and Fuli. With these centers certifying IADH produce, the Agriculture Bureau took on the responsibility of running publicity campaigns to promote its sale around the island.

Together, the Agriculture Bureau and farmers associations managed to forge a national sales and distribution network. By the end of 2005, the number of demonstration farms participating in the IADH program rose from 30 to 164, and this year, Du expects that number to reach 200.