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Status needs clarification

Late last year, former US secretary of state Colin Powell caused quite a stir in Taiwan -- while greatly delighting Beijing -- when he announced that Taiwan had no sovereignty.

Given that Powell's assertion was not retracted even after vehement protests by Taiwan, it must be the US position that Taiwan doesn't have sovereignty. Also, given that -- throughout the last 33 years since former US president Richard Nixon's visit to China in 1972 -- the US merely has "acknowledged" China's claim that Taiwan is part of China, it has been the US position that China doesn't hold sovereignty over Taiwan, either.

And, in line with the US' policy of maintaining ambiguity with respect to Taiwan's status, Powell didn't elaborate as to where Taiwan's sovereignty does lie.

But the US government does have an obligation to clarify this.

That's because evidence and arguments that have been brought forward through research shed new light, and are contrary to the long-held beliefs promulgated by both the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party -- on several important issues.

For instance, in 1945 the Allied powers might not have had the right to bestow Taiwan -- an abandoned Japanese territory with 6 million Taiwanese living in it -- on the KMT's Republic of China (ROC).

The KMT would therefore have wrongfully -- if not illegitimately -- ruled Taiwan for half a century until 1996, when the Taiwanese people elected their own system of government.

The 1996 presidential election should be regarded as at least a prelude to a referendum for Taiwan's independent statehood. Since the presidential election represented one act a non-sovereign state couldn't do, the Taiwanese people had in essence re-affirmed twice -- once in 2000 and again last year -- that Taiwan is a sovereign state.

This is in sharp contrast to the situation in 1945 when the US used Taiwan's lack of desire and readiness to be an independent state as justification for allowing the KMT's take-over of Taiwan. The US at the time conveniently ignored that -- as a victor -- it had the responsibility to foster into independence a formerly colonized region of a defeated nation.

The US government should therefore be urged to acknowledge the illegitimacy of -- or at the minimum reveal its lingering doubts -- ? regarding the moral legitimacy of giving Taiwan to the ROC in 1945. This admission of a 60-year old mistake would have little immediate bearing on the status quo since international laws often only serve at the convenience of big powers.

The revelation, however, would greatly dampen international sympathy toward China's claim on Taiwan and would hopefully alleviate China's aggression.

Recently, the need for clarification might also have taken on additional significance when -- as if the cross-strait conflict's potential for expanding into a global calamity needed constant reminder -- a Chinese general brought up the nuclear option in case of the US' intervention in Taiwan.

The reason for this sudden and pugnacious outburst could be approached in several ways, but his justification for warning the US against interfering with China's "internal affairs" again played on the theme of Taiwan's lack of sovereignty.

All of these points help to illustrate that the US policy of ambiguity regarding Taiwan's current status is increasingly untenable. In fact, the lack of clarity in that respect might be contributing to instability in the region.

Conversely, the elimination of the US' ambiguity could serve to provide a starting point for Taiwan's future status, of which all essential elements could then be shaped based on a consensus forged among countries of relevance, including the US, China and Japan -- which all have vital strategic and security interests in Taiwan -- and eventually consented to by the Taiwanese people.

It's growing more evident that this international meeting of the minds is imperative to make Taiwan the anchor of regional peace, instead of the most likely hot spot for the next world war.

Taiwan was wrongfully denied sovereignty once. The international powers, especially the US, shouldn't let that happen again.

Besides, this time around, Taiwan's lack of readiness -- or desire -- to be an independent state can hardly be an excuse.

Huang Jei-hsuan
California
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