The interparty task force on cross-strait affairs is presently functioning under the leadership of Dr. Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲).
The first issue being discussed by the task force is the exact meaning of the "one China" declaration. While the issue itself may be critical, the persistence of such word-games is beyond the understanding of most of the international community.
For most of the world, this is a no-brainer. China and all the leading countries know what "one China" means. Perhaps only in Taiwan are people are confused about what it means. This is a serious problem and a severe handicap for understanding their national identity.
What exactly is China? When the question is put to people around the world, they think only of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and that it is legally ruled by a Communist regime. Whether you like it or not, that is a fact.
Previously, the KMT government may have challenged the fact by arguing that this Republic of China is China and has been since 1912, but this is an obviously tenuous argument not accepted by most nations. That is why, during the KMT's hold on Taiwan it kept scrambling for pseudonyms that circumvented the self-inflicted barrier.
Taiwan is now a true democracy and a free country. Its official name may be the Republic of China, but it is not the China founded by Sun Yat-sen.
The ROC's rule in China became history long ago. Anybody who fails to see this and insists that Taiwan is China is only continuing to play word games and is resisting the truth.Taiwan has to negotiate with China realistically and without illusion.
Only when Taiwan accepts the reality of the situation will negotiations with China be meaningful and international support and understanding possible.
John Yang
Ohio, USA
Chen traveled with dignity
President Chen's (陳水扁) recent low-profile stopover in Los Angeles, kowtowing to the US State Department's unreasonable terms and conditions and suffering the ravages of a cruel geopolitical climate, is a humiliation for the Taiwanese people who freely and democratically elected him to represent them with pride and dignity.
No wonder he won praise; not from the American public, but from the so-called China experts in the State Department. I wonder how President Chen dared to give himself a pat on the back for winning the "acceptance" and "approval" of the US State Department for his "programmed" behavior in LA. He was elected by the Taiwanese people to whom he is solely accountable.The responsibility of the bureaucrats in the US State Department is to maximize America's best interests in maintaining good relations with China -- a dictatorship flagrantly hostile to American values -- even, it seems, if this must be done at the expense of Taiwan.
In contrast to Chen's non-event in LA, former president Lee Teng Hui's (李登輝) visit to Cornell University in 1996 might have irked the State Department and the PRC, but it sure won a great deal of respect, dignity, and pride, which the 23 million people in Taiwan rightly deserved.
Taiwan's PR campaign, particularly in the US, is to win the support of the American public, not the US president, nor the State Department's bureaucrats. Win the hearts of the American people, then deal with their public servants with business-like professionalism.
Democracy, freedom of expression, compassion, and respect for basic human rights are still the best weapons that no Taiwanese money can buy to win the support and respect of the American people.
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