Dangwai Magazines (Taiwan)

Taiwan Political Review and Democratic Change

After a 15-year interlude, emerging local politicians regrouped and in 1976 published the Taiwan Political Review. This magazine was presented explicitly as a political project to mobilize grassroots support rather than as an intellectual assertion by the 1950s liberal elites. It challenged the KMT's legitimacy claims—especially the “one China” myth that bolstered the mainlanders' power privileges—but was closed down after only five issues.

While monopolizing central power, the KMT incorporated local elites and allowed local elections to boost its legitimacy. In 1977, opposition candidates for the first time captured important seats and won 30% of the popular vote in local elections. They were emboldened to form a loosely organized Dangwai (Outside the Party) body, a name adopted to avoid being banned as an unauthorized political party but also to signal distance from the KMT regime.

In the late 1970s, the title of Free China was changed to Formosa, and the magazine became the focus of Dangwai's organizational and media efforts. The title change suggested that Anti–KMT and domestic power redistribution took precedence as the movement's primary themes against the larger background of anticommunism. Formosa energized movement leaders, and legislators were elected to coordinate political rallies via the magazine's 21 offices throughout Taiwan. When the United States recognized the People's Republic of China in 1979, the KMT arrested almost all Dangwai leaders at a protest rally. This watershed event garnered international attention and brought censure from the U.S. government. The authorities killed Formosa magazine, but public sympathy sent more of the victims' spouses and defense lawyers into office in subsequent elections. Dangwai magazines sprouted like grass. They raised public consciousness and legitimized counterideologies. They raised funds and coordinated political activities, while cementing an in-group identity within the movement. They formed a united front, forcing the regime and pro-KMT media to answer [Page 160]inconvenient questions. Press freedom was hard fought, with appeal to such empowering Western ideologies as “the public's right to know” and “checks and balances.”

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