Furthermore, theater missile defense considerations should be based on China's missile threat. If our only purpose is avoiding "provoking China," Taiwan should never have upgraded its military forces, and the direct presidential elections should never have been held. The only way not to infuriate China is by simply accepting "one country, two systems." For the past fifty years we have not only survived under the shadow of "provoking China" but also steadily grown and prospered.
The Koo-Wang talks are a constructive discussion between Taiwan and China, Their scope is even greater than mere political discussion. Our door is always open: the "fits and starts" in the dialogue are a result of China's problems.
After Soong proposed his views on China's policy, he added a conditional clause, saying he will implement them only with the support of all political parties. Theoretically speaking, if Soong leaves the KMT and participates in the presidential election as an independent candidate, the KMT, which has a safe majority in the Legislative Yuan, is unlikely to support Soong to "betray" KMT policies. In other words, Soong's policy proposals can be seen as an empty promise. If Soong becomes president without strong support from the legislature, he will definitely need to take advantage of the right to nominate the premier in order to control the selection of the Cabinet. This will bring about a head-on collision between the directions of executive and legislative policies. Combined with China's verbal and military threats, this conflict may destroy all our achievements accumulated over the past fifty years.
The Washington Post article made references to Soong's view of "democracy and reforms." Soong's submissive attitude towards China will delay China's progress toward democratization while, by diminishing the ROC's sovereignty, it will assist China's power elite in their fight against democracy. The Chinese people's hope to pursue democratization hangs upon the survival and successful operation of the ROC polity. This means that Soong's failure to realize these objectives will bring hope to those Chinese who are pursuing democratization. For national leadership elections, consistency of political views and policies is a basic prerequisite for the people's survival and livelihood.
Lin Yu-siang is the deputy director of the KMT's Department of Policy Research.
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