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Letter: What if China democratizes?

Chaim Melamed has taken some of my views out of context (Letters, Feb. 27, page 8). I do not support the "one China, two systems" strategy that has resulted in Hong Kong turning back the clock on freedom. Nor do I want China to swallow Taiwan. However, I wished to point out that it is possible for Taiwan to change China.

I believe that the Communist Government is hanging by a thread; they have no choice but to slowly democratize. It may be fantasy to think that this will happen, but it was also fantasy to think the Eastern Block would fall, and it did.

It will take a fundamental shift in the Chinese government's policy before Taiwan can even consider unification. It is only recently that I have changed my own views on this issue. In the past, I only considered Taiwanese independence, and a declaration of it. While I still support an independence drive, I wonder about the what-ifs. What if Taiwan and China could unify on agreeable terms? What if China was to democratize?

The Communist government has been playing the same trump card for years. They flame the passions of Chinese nationalism in the people to help keep order. That trump card is going to lose its effectiveness. The Chinese people are getting restless; they see the freedoms that are denied them. How long will it be before they demand the freedoms that democracies enjoy?

A communist China is a threat. A democratic China would be a superpower. Taiwan will have a choice to make in the future, but a decision to unify can only be made with a democratic China.

Tom Bowie

British Columbia, Canada

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