S. Korea and Taiwan weren’t dictatorships for the sake of economic development, they were military ruled countries because they had (and have) horrible neighbors who want to destroy them simply out of a lust for power, that is the key reason for them having those authoritarian governments.

As for Singapore, it got its head start as British colony, the current administration simply took over an established, successful international port and trade city. And it would take real effort to screw that up.

“How does the average Taiwanese person’s overall quality of life compare to the average Guangdongese/Chinese?”

Perhaps better, so what? Taiwan achieved its economic success mostly under an authoritarian rule, So did Korea(S). Economics are not the only part of life, but very important especially for economies at a low level. Singapore is authoritarian, how do you compare the overall quality of life of a Singaporean with an Indian’s, democratic Indian’s?

The conclusion is that there is no conclusion!

Singaporeans on average have better life than Indians, this does not necessarily mean authoritarian rule is better than democracy. By the same token, average life in Taiwan is better than the one on the Mainland, this is not a sufficient evidence to suggest that democracy is always better than authoritarian rule .

The discussion of a political system must be put into context, often into many contexts. The use of a blanket covering statement, such as “democratic is better than authoritarian, and every nation should have democracy, etc.” is “too simple, too naive” at least, provided that the speaker(s) does not have a hidden agenda.

Sugar is sweet, but you could kill a diabetic with that stuff.

@Beijinger and others

How does the average Taiwanese person’s overall quality of life compare to the average Guangdongese/Chinese?

Turkey seems to enjoy a pretty stable democracy despite not having a very high GDP, that GDP stuff is just another weak excuse by scared old men in Beijing.

Falen, all I can say is that a lot of Chinese people would like to live in a democracy. If they have the right qualifications, if they have the choice, they move to America, Canada, Australia or European countries. Are they all wrong or is there something wrong with their own country?

You’re probably right that they don’t care about elections in most countries. It’s just hard to imagine watching an hour-long program on the Serbian elections and not wondering why it is so important, unless there is something special about elections. But that’s probably just because of where I was raised.

With regard to laobaixing, it’s not exactly like I invented the term, nor defined it. Yet I think it’s safe to say that ‘Beijinger’ who is fluent in English, living in the US, and following international politics does not qualify as the most typical laobaixing. Perhaps I am wrong.

Sorry to say but this election and other election hardly count as achievement. A messed up place is still messed up after an election. Watching these “election” is amusing and a lot of Chinese are simply not impressed.

And wtf do you mean by loabaixing? You probably have some stereotypical mental image of some old man pushing cart with massive load of cardboards down the street or some random farmer in the middle of nowhere. People with internet access probably doesn’t qualify as loabaixing to you?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,2251711,00.html