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Editorial: China-Taiwan rights gap tells tale

Two ostensibly unrelated events occurred Tuesday on either side of the Taiwan Strait. These events illustrate the sharp contrast between the development paths that China and Taiwan have chosen to take.

On this side of the Strait, during a symposium promoting a human-rights law in Taiwan, Lin Chia-cheng (林嘉誠), chairman of the Cabinet's Research, Development and Evaluation Commission, explained President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) ideas for a country built on the foundation of human rights. Lin said that democratic and constitutional order must have at its core the protection and promotion of human rights. The nation, he said, will gradually amend its death penalty laws. Lin also vowed promotion of judicial reform, conduct regular human-rights surveys and establish human-rights memorial museums.

The message was that Taiwanese society is not yet satisfied with its democratic achievements, and that under Chen's leadership the country will move toward new milestones in human rights protection.

On the other side of the Strait, however, Wang Daohan (汪道涵), chairman of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, lashed out at Chen for advocating referendum legislation and a new constitution. Wang claimed that referendum legislation would create a legal basis for a referendum on Taiwan's independence.

In a menacing voice, Wang said "Such behavior is a serious provocation to the fundamental interests of the Chinese people. [It] pushes cross-strait relations ... to the brink of danger."

So while Taiwan is moving along the path of constitutional reform and better human rights guarantees, Beijing holds on to the fictitious idea of a Chinese empire.

Dictators past and present have used similar methods to rule their empires -- they create fear among the people in order to achieve their goal of repression. The Zhongnanhai leaders are still trying to order the Taiwanese people around; but dictators can only have their way as long as people fear them.

A strongly worded statement by the Chinese authorities on Monday demonstrates their mindset. The statement criticized Chen's advocacy of referendums and a new constitution as an attempt to "unite the various, divided Taiwan independence forces under the pretext of public opinion, and wantonly engage in Taiwan independence and splittist activities."

History has shown that China's threats against Taiwan do not help the pro-unification camp, but instead create a backlash in public opinion. China's missile tests in 1996 led to a landslide victory for former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝). In 2000, China's threats against Chen led to his election victory.

Over the past year, China has tried hard to remain silent in the face of Chen's election strategies. But its recent vitriolic statements show that imperialist tendencies remain strong in China's leadership.

Taiwan is evolving toward being a country based on human rights, while China does not even hold credible elections. It's hard to imagine how these two countries can engage in dialogue. Forget about staid slogans such as "the descendents of Qin Shi Huang," and "blood is thicker than water." The more talk there is about "one China," the more ludicrous the idea becomes.
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