In his recent interviews, US Secretary of State Colin Powell called Taiwan a democratic market society. But he also said that "Taiwan is not independent. It does not enjoy sovereignty as a nation," and added that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait will eventually reach a "peaceful unification" under the US "one China" policy.
Powell's words have completely changed the myth about Taiwan's democratic development. We finally understand that enjoying democracy does not equal enjoying sovereignty as a nation, and supporting Taiwan to boost democracy is not supporting the Taiwanese people to become their own masters. Thus, the way Washington treats Taipei is no better than the way Beijing treats Hong Kong.
Senior Presidential Adviser Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏) once told some high-level officials of the US Department of State that the Taiwan Relations Act is nothing but a piece of paper which is inferior to the US-Japan security cooperation and the US military deployment in South Korea. At least Japan and South Korea are clearly aware of their rights and obligations. The Taiwan Relations Act was unilaterally passed by the US Congress in 1979, and Washington has the right to interpret it as it sees fit. Hence, the people of Taiwan have been guessing: Under what conditions is the US willing to safeguard Taiwan? Once a cross-strait war breaks out, how long will it take for Washington to send its aircraft carriers to the Strait? Will it be 20 or 40 hours? This also explains why Powell believes that Taiwan does not deserve sovereignty as a nation, because we are too naive, and are still not qualified to play this complex international game.
The Taiwanese people think that they are becoming their own masters when striving for democracy. But from a US perspective, it is just an improvement of human welfare. The Taiwanese people think that they are deepening democracy and resolving a political deadlock through the push for referendums.
But from a US perspective, it is a push for Taiwan independence. Obviously, under this US patriarchy, Washington views Taipei as a democratic offspring that needs its special care. But the former also locks the latter in a birdcage, so that it will not fly away and cause trouble.
Viewed from this perspective, perhaps it is better for Taiwan and China to resume their talks. At least, Taiwan will have a chance to speak for itself without US pressure. It must take the initiative, rather than depending on the US forever. The Democratic Progressive Party government should make the public aware of the gap between Taiwan's democracy and sovereignty, and both the blue and green camps should clarify their stances on the issue. Apart from the Taiwanese people's pro-unification and pro-independence sentiments, the key lies in the fact that there is no longer a gray area. Taiwan cannot now enjoy both democracy and sovereignty -- just democracy without sovereignty.
What exactly is a democracy without sovereignty? What is the value and weight of a democracy that can be traded away by another country at any time? Does it deserve our efforts? This is the question that Taiwan's politicians and people must answer.
Therefore, apart from deepening its democracy, so as to communicate with the rest of the world through it, Taiwan should actively carry out cross-strait talks with China and look into the connection between its democracy and sovereignty. In particular, it should uncover China's hypocritical nature of oppressing Taiwan through the US.
I finally realized that one must truly love Taiwan when promoting democracy here in light of this unbearable discrimination.
Hsu Yung-ming is an assistant research fellow at the Academia Sinica.
TRANSLATED BY EDDY CHANG
Could Asia be on the verge of a new wave of nuclear proliferation? A look back at the early history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary, illuminates some reasons for concern in the Indo-Pacific today. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recently described NATO as “the most powerful and successful alliance in history,” but the organization’s early years were not without challenges. At its inception, the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty marked a sea change in American strategic thinking. The United States had been intent on withdrawing from Europe in the years following
My wife and I spent the week in the interior of Taiwan where Shuyuan spent her childhood. In that town there is a street that functions as an open farmer’s market. Walk along that street, as Shuyuan did yesterday, and it is next to impossible to come home empty-handed. Some mangoes that looked vaguely like others we had seen around here ended up on our table. Shuyuan told how she had bought them from a little old farmer woman from the countryside who said the mangoes were from a very old tree she had on her property. The big surprise
The issue of China’s overcapacity has drawn greater global attention recently, with US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen urging Beijing to address its excess production in key industries during her visit to China last week. Meanwhile in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week said that Europe must have a tough talk with China on its perceived overcapacity and unfair trade practices. The remarks by Yellen and Von der Leyen come as China’s economy is undergoing a painful transition. Beijing is trying to steer the world’s second-largest economy out of a COVID-19 slump, the property crisis and
Former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) trip to China provides a pertinent reminder of why Taiwanese protested so vociferously against attempts to force through the cross-strait service trade agreement in 2014 and why, since Ma’s presidential election win in 2012, they have not voted in another Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate. While the nation narrowly avoided tragedy — the treaty would have put Taiwan on the path toward the demobilization of its democracy, which Courtney Donovan Smith wrote about in the Taipei Times in “With the Sunflower movement Taiwan dodged a bullet” — Ma’s political swansong in China, which included fawning dithyrambs