Accusations of ethnic divisions have been used to legitimize protests following the presidential election. Taiwan does have an ethnicity problem, but not to the extent that it should be labeled "ethnic division." Nor is it true that the pan-green camp's campaign methods provoked ethnic division. President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) "one country on each side" of the Taiwan Strait model concerns national recognition and is unrelated to ethnicity, but it has been deliberately used by some politicians to stir up ethnic conflict.
What does identification with Taiwan and the Republic of China (ROC), or with China, have to do with ethnicity? This becomes an ethnic issue only if you consider yourself living in "Taiwan Pro-vince," a Chinese citizen in a country divided by the "one country on each side" model. The number of Hakka voting for Chen also increased significantly, showing that the ethnic problem is improving.
Pan-blue voters also come from different ethnic groups. Are they divided? There is a localization faction in the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), and the pan-green camp includes an association of Mainlanders for Taiwan independence. This implies that there is no division.
Irrational statements and actions in the wake of the election divide not ethnic groups, but the nation. This is a serious issue.
First, some people in the pan-blue camp do not recognize the legally elected president. People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) has said that Chen is appointing himself president, and former DPP chairman Hsu Hsin-liang (許信良) said that KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and Soong won. Who is Hsu to say so? A representative of the Central Election Commission? The kingmaker behind Lien and Soong? Or does he represent Beijing in offering them the imperial robe?
Doubting the election results or demanding a recount is fine, but it has to be done according to legal procedures. If an individual can make decisions on this, that or the other, and even decide who will be president, the country is doomed.
Second, some people in the pan-blue camp want to stop the presidential inauguration, accusing Chen of having stolen the nation. Before the recount process has been completed, regular activities should continue as usual. Should all activity cease just because a few people claim that "the nation has been stolen?" Does that invalidate all legisla-tion? Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) recognizes that Chen and Lu were legally elected and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) will follow the law and participate in the inauguration, clearly displaying their understanding of the concept of the rule of law.
The suggestion that Chen and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) were illegally elected and that Wang should be made acting president is ridiculous. According to the Constitution, the premier takes over if the president and the vice president are incapable of carrying out their duties.
Third, the groundless accusations of Chen's stealing the nation caused pan-blue Taipei City councilors to take down his picture in the City Council's chamber, as if they had their own head of state. So did some overseas Chinese associations. Who do they recognize as president? If it is Lien, aren't they dividing Taiwan into two nations? Talk of separate rule for the north and south is yet another bid to divide the nation.
These attempts hurt both domestic solidarity and Taiwan's image. The Democratic Progressive Party must take a softer approach and show sincerity in working for ethnic integration and to prevent provocation. Many intelligent people inside the KMT are also trying to block nation-dividing actions. United, these two forces would reveal attempts at national and ethnic division for the people to reject.
Paul Lin is a commentator based in New York.
Translated by Perry Svensson
As strategic tensions escalate across the vast Indo-Pacific region, Taiwan has emerged as more than a potential flashpoint. It is the fulcrum upon which the credibility of the evolving American-led strategy of integrated deterrence now rests. How the US and regional powers like Japan respond to Taiwan’s defense, and how credible the deterrent against Chinese aggression proves to be, will profoundly shape the Indo-Pacific security architecture for years to come. A successful defense of Taiwan through strengthened deterrence in the Indo-Pacific would enhance the credibility of the US-led alliance system and underpin America’s global preeminence, while a failure of integrated deterrence would
The Executive Yuan recently revised a page of its Web site on ethnic groups in Taiwan, replacing the term “Han” (漢族) with “the rest of the population.” The page, which was updated on March 24, describes the composition of Taiwan’s registered households as indigenous (2.5 percent), foreign origin (1.2 percent) and the rest of the population (96.2 percent). The change was picked up by a social media user and amplified by local media, sparking heated discussion over the weekend. The pan-blue and pro-China camp called it a politically motivated desinicization attempt to obscure the Han Chinese ethnicity of most Taiwanese.
On Wednesday last week, the Rossiyskaya Gazeta published an article by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) asserting the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) territorial claim over Taiwan effective 1945, predicated upon instruments such as the 1943 Cairo Declaration and the 1945 Potsdam Proclamation. The article further contended that this de jure and de facto status was subsequently reaffirmed by UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 of 1971. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs promptly issued a statement categorically repudiating these assertions. In addition to the reasons put forward by the ministry, I believe that China’s assertions are open to questions in international
The Legislative Yuan passed an amendment on Friday last week to add four national holidays and make Workers’ Day a national holiday for all sectors — a move referred to as “four plus one.” The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who used their combined legislative majority to push the bill through its third reading, claim the holidays were chosen based on their inherent significance and social relevance. However, in passing the amendment, they have stuck to the traditional mindset of taking a holiday just for the sake of it, failing to make good use of
RSS