Hsu Szu-chien, a research fellow at Taipei’s Academia Sinica, presents his paper on the progress of democracy in China as a part of the first panel on 3 December Annual International Conference on Washington-Taipei-Beijing Relations held in Taipei, focusing mainly on political development in Taiwan and China, was not attended by Chinese participants as speakers from Taiwan and the U.S. took the floor to discuss the future of the absent country. At the event, held in Taipei and on the heels of China's 17th National Congress earlier in October, scholars and speakers from both the Republic of China (ROC) and the U.S. presented their papers and thoughts on U.S.-Taiwan and cross-strait relations. Elaborating on the state of China's progress as a potentially democratic country, Zweig remembered that he had been "very excited" at the first alleged democratic village elections held in the socialist country in 1987 to little short-term avail in CCP politics. Zweig cautioned against such impulsive enthusiasm by adding that it should not be forgotten that "it took Taiwan 30 years to move up from township elections to presidential elections."

Source: The China Post 04.12.07