The people of East Timor, however, were not as lucky as the Austrians. Their suffering under Indonesian rule was ignored for nearly a quarter century after Indonesian troops invaded and occupied independent East Timor in 1975. The Indonesian leaders deemed that it was their right to bring the East Timorese people under their rule.
It wasn't until the late 1990s that the international community decided it could no longer ignore the Indonesian atrocities toward the East Timor resistance, and the UN became involved. In August 1999, the UN supervised a popular referendum in which the overwhelming majority of the people of East Timor voted for independence from Indonesia. Less than three years later, in May 2002, East Timor became internationally recognized as an independent state.
The cases discussed above demonstrate that in post-World War II world, annexation of another country will not stand. In the age of freedom and human rights, the world should not and would not tolerate the subjugation of unwilling people. One former colony after another became independent after the World War II. The dissolution of both the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia in 1991 further attested to the truth that a country that it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to hold together a country that was created by means of intimidation and war. China, nevertheless, has managed to hang on to Tibet, which it invaded and annexed in 1950. Against all odds, Tibetans have continued to aspire to independence.
The Chinese military brutally crushed a Tibetan uprising in 1958 and compelled the Dalai Lama and more than 100,000 of his followers to flee to India. To this day, Beijing has had to station a large police force and troops in Tibet to maintain firm control over its unwilling Tibetan subjects. Continuing harsh rule over Tibet as well as Sinkiang, formerly known as Eastern Turkestan, has undoubtedly contributed to China's image as one of the world's worst human rights violators. Annexation without the consent of the people is uncivilized. China, however, still desires to annex yet another piece of land inhabited by freedom-loving, democratic people.
Taiwan has developed separately from China for more than a century, to the extent that today Taiwan's people enjoy higher living standards and far more freedom and human rights than their counterparts in China. It is crystal clear that the great majority of the Taiwanese are strongly opposed to Taiwan's becoming part of a repressive China.
Taiwan is a democracy, and unification with China could never become a reality without the endorsement of the people through a referendum. It is also certain that if there is to be real peace and stability in East Asia in general -- and in the Taiwan Strait in particular -- China must learn to respect human rights, international norms and the wishes of the people of Taiwan.
Chen Ching-chih is professor emeritus of history, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville and a researcher with the Los Angeles-based Institute for Taiwanese Studies
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