Prospects look bleak

Now that the two opposition parties have concluded their China sojourns it is time for the people of Taiwan to sit back and look at what these two trips have actually achieved, and analyze what results a potential peace or bridge-building deal with China would mean for Taiwan's future.

After selling their souls to the devil for some much-needed publicity, it seems that all that the pan-blue camp's leaders can promise is something the people already have, and the only thing by which the Chinese Communist Party holds onto power is economic prosperity. What else could a future agreement offer the good people of this country?

From the speeches and communiques issued by Lien and Soong, it seems that under a future pan-blue deal with China, anyone who supports Taiwanese independence can expect to be thrown into jail, or at the very least have their efforts disrupted by the state.

What a step forward -- the return of political prisoners. And as China and Taiwan's democracy received equal amounts of praise and scorn respectively from one of its distinguished guests, then it can be assumed that under any future pact Taiwanese can also look forward to sham elections, where crude restriction tactics are used against anyone opposing the ruling party, and in which non-ruling party winners are not allowed to assume their positions.

Sounds all too familiar, doesn't it? It would be like the return of the tangwai (outside the party) days. It seems that as the pan-blues cannot get the results they desire from a democratic system and so their answer is to revert to a system where they can guarantee their own political futures at the expense of the freedom of Taiwan's population. Another winning option -- the return of the White Terror era.

In fact, the only good thing to have come from these two pitiable propaganda trips is that the Taiwanese people have finally had a chance to see what kind of future lies in store for them if they should ever re-elect a pan-blue government.

Hopefully enough damage has been done to ensure that this will never happen, and that Taiwan's future will be as an independent state, and not as the 23rd province of China.

Henry Blackhand
Taipei