The Taipei Times and other newspapers reported that James Soong emphatically stressed in a speech on Sunday to Taiwanese businessmen in Shanghai that "Taiwan independence" is not a choice (or option) for Taiwan.
The next day, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), during a TV interview, criticized Soong, saying, "You can oppose Taiwan independence, but you can't say Taiwan independence is not one of the choices." This debate about whether "Taiwan independence" is or isn't a choice sounds to me like debating whether we have a choice to build the Shihmen Reservoir. This, obviously, isn't a choice, because the reservoir is already there. It's a fact. Taiwan independence is also an indisputable fact, already realized. Taiwan is not ruled by Beijing, or anybody else outside Taiwan for that matter. It is ruled -- now -- by its people, who regularly elect their president and legislature in accordance with a democratic constitution.
Independence has already been achieved in the last 10 years or so. Taiwan's residents should now cherish and defend their independence.
Colman Bernath
Taipei
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