Thu, Apr 18, 2002 page8

• It is time the world accepted reality

  • By James Wang 王景弘
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  Referring to Taiwan as "The Republic of Taiwan," US Presi-dent George W. Bush caused an uproar in China and a ripple in Taiwan.

  As expected, Beijing asked for clarification and government-controlled media expressed their dismay and indignation. That is routine. No matter whether the remark is intentional or a slip of tongue, Beijing has no choice but to protest and put their position on the record. As a matter of necessity, China loads protests to the US whenever it perceives any American action as violation of its "one China" principle.

  Even though Taiwan has been a separate country for more than half a century, China will do whatever it can to weaken Taiwan's separate identity and make its claim of sovereignty over Taiwan more credible.

  China would not admit it, but it is obvious that it has no legal base to claim sovereignty over Taiwan except insisting that Taiwan and the international community accept its "one China" principle. Taiwan as a democracy cannot and should not fall into this trap. Neither should the US.

  In contrast to the one-voice negative reaction in China, the reactions in Taiwan were as usual more divided. The pro-independence or pro-status quo forever majority deeply appreciated hearing Bush call a spade a spade. The small but vocal pro-unification camp shared its outrage with the Chinese against Bush and pre-sumed that Bush misspoke.

  I can understand China's reaction, but I am puzzled by the reaction of the tiny pro-unification group in Taiwan, which was part of the staunch anti-communist regime in the martial-law era.

  Now they prefer to live in Taiwan but want to see Taiwan under China's control. To be sure, the constitutional name of Taiwan is not the Republic of Taiwan. But Taiwan is a well-known name for the area across the Taiwan Strait independent from China. Politically Taiwan is a republic. Is there a name better suited to identify this country than the Republic of Taiwan?

  After more than half a century of political evolution, the ROC has been "Taiwanized," no longer claiming to be or being recognized as the government of China. The battle over China representation was over in 1971 when the ROC was soundly defeated and expelled from the UN. To continue to claim that the ROC represents China should be considered as "provocative" to China and crazy.

  The only way for Taiwan to survive as an independent state is to build up its separate identity through the democratic process.

  When the KMT was in power, the authorities refused to adopt a new separate identity because it could cost them their legal basis, however false it was, for ruling Taiwan. Legally speaking the sovereignty of Taiwan should belong to either the people of Taiwan or China. No wonder Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) would rather have "jade broken than an earthen tile intact."

  Chiang's hardline approach was not necessarily shared by all ruling mainlanders.

  According to recently declassified diplomatic files, then US ambassador Walter McConaughy reported to Washington after the UN expulsion in 1971 that then-vice foreign minister H. K. Yang (楊西崑) told him that for Taiwan to survive it is necessary to declare that "the government of Taiwan is entirely separate and apart from the government on the mainland and that henceforth the government here will have nothing to do with the mainland."

  According to McConaughy, Yang said that the declaration should prescribe a new designation for the government, namely, "The Chinese Republic of Tai-wan." It would be stipulated that the term Chinese did not have any political connotation but was used merely as a generic term stemming from the Chinese ethnic origin of the population in Taiwan. It would be used in a way similar to the manner in which various Arab countries use "Arab" in their official government titles.

  Of course, Yang's efforts are now history. But it showed that Yang understood that, technically, the legal status of Taiwan had yet to be determined.

  For the ROC to have a legal case for ruling Taiwan as a sovereign state, it has to give up its claims of representing all of China -- already a lost cause -- and become the government of Taiwan.

  In that sense, Bush cited almost the same name for Taiwan as suggested by Yang some 30 years ago. Both terms point to the fact that Taiwan is a separate state.

  Through democratic pro-cesses, the people of Taiwan have made it clear that Taiwan is a sovereign state. Constitutionally it is still the ROC, but it is "entirely separate and apart" from the government on the mainland and has nothing to do with China.

  Eventually Taiwan may be able to call a spade a spade and everyone would be proud to be a citizen of the Republic of Taiwan, which would co-exist peacefully with its neighbors, including the PRC.

  James Wang is a Washington-based journalist.
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