Call a spade a spade
After reading the Liberty Times editorial published last Sunday("Dumping ROC means recognition," Sept. 14, page 8), I wanted to react by giving the point of view of an "outsider" on the question of Taiwan's sovereignty and name.
Before coming to Taiwan, my knowledge of the situation could have been simply summarized by the word "ignorance." Of course, like other pupils of my generation, I was taught at school of the Chinese civil war and the departure of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to Taiwan. But after that, no mention of it was made again.
To me and to all my friends and family, the possibility that Taiwan could not be a country had never crossed our minds. The idea of the Republic of China (ROC) being located in Taiwan sounded more like a government in exile in another country, like the French government was during World War II when it relocated to London.
In France, my country, Taiwan is simply regarded as "Taiwan," not the ROC, a country to some, a province of China to others. If you were to ask passers-by in the streets of Paris what they think happened to the Chinese government, known as the ROC, since it moved to Taiwan, very few would say that it ended up governing the island.
One could easily bet that you wouldn't get many more correct answers in any other city outside of Asia. As it seems, the vast majority of the world's population regards Taiwan as a country independent from any other, including China.
Taiwan, to most people around the world, is a country that's name is Taiwan (some might probably even say The Taiwanese Republic), and its inhabitants are called the Taiwanese people. They are not thought of as being Chinese. They might speak Chinese, but then many countries in the world speak French and yet their people are not considered to be French citizens.
However, if Taiwan wants to be recognized as a country, then it should stop confusing the diplomatic world. ?France's official name is The French Republic, since the first republican constitution dating back to 1792. However, over the past 210 years, none of its citizens, politicians, members of the government or any official representatives has ever referred to it as such. The country is always called "France" by its people and their leaders.
Thus, maybe it is time for Taiwan's media, politicians and members of government to refer to their country only as Taiwan. A change of name is only necessary if people fail to call their country by the name it commonly wants to be known by. The confusion in the diplomatic world is not necessarily due to pressure from China, but probably more the result of the misuse of names within Taiwan. Indeed, how many times does one hear on television or radio the names ROC and mainland China? ?Would it not be more realistic and simple to replace them with Taiwan and China, respectively? ?Call a cat a cat, as an old French saying goes.
However, dumping the name ROC on top of insisting that everyone uses the correct names for Taiwan and China, can be appropriate if it is to clearly indicate that Taiwan, its people and government and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) renounce any claim over the sovereignty of China, a declaration that is yet to be made by any member of Taiwan's successive governments.
The legitimacy of the PRC to govern the territory of China has been recognized by the whole world but not by Taiwan. This clearly indicates that Taiwan has not renounced reclaiming China and thus poses a threat to the government of China.
Michael Theron
Tainan
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