Taiwan's vote is a crack in the new axis of autocracy

In Beijing, they argue that liberal democracy would not suit China. Many years ago, as the foreign minister I met with the then Chinese president Jiang Zemin. After the usual formalities about our bilateral relationship, I asked him what the political impact of the internet and social media would be on the growing middle-class of China. He replied, "Ah, you mean will that make our country more democratic?" He went on to say that it would, but for the Chinese people multi-party democracy was not appropriate. It would be too divisive. There would be instead increasingly democratic elections within the…