 While Taiwan's media freedom may rank among the top few nations in Asia today, its progress to its current state of vibrancy was not without a struggle.The Japanese occupation of Taiwan from 1895 to 1945 did not slow down the pace of economic modernisation on the island; the Kuomintang (KMT, Nationalist Party) also built on the successes of its predecessors to modernize and this provided the basis for its mass media industry to develop.However, KMT's pursuit of economic progress and democratic ideals did not automatically mean that Taiwan's media could fulfill its role as the fourth estate of democracy, as a check on the government.