The one country, two systems model destroys, not maintains, the status quo. The model will make Beijing the central government and Taipei the government of a special administrative region without control over diplomacy and defense. The ROC will become "Taiwan, China."
The model is oppressive and transitional. Hong Kong was pro-mised that its status quo would remain intact for only 50 years. As a colony, Hong Kong had no power to say "no" to the one country, two systems model that Britain agreed to with Beijing. That some people in Taiwan are willing to accept the model has perplexed the people of Hong Kong and Beijing officials in charge of Taiwan affairs.
In mid June, the results of opinion polls on the one country, two systems model conducted by three major media institutions differed substantially from a sur-vey on the same issue by National Chengchi University's Election Research Center. One would have to examine the questions asked and compare the answers given in order to find out which one, if any, to believe. That Taiwan is finding it difficult to oppose the one country, two systems or "one country, three systems" models, and that some people in Taiwan are harboring fantasies about those proposals, however, shows that psychological defense faces a tough challenge.
Lin Cheng-yi is director of the Institute of European and American Studies of the Academia Sinica.
Translated by Jackie Lin
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