The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has changed after losing its grip on power. Not from being authoritarian to becoming a democratic party, but rather from opposing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to befriending it.
A steady stream of KMT leaders and symphatizers have been paying their respects to the leaders in Beijing, and former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) has publicly said that he wants to join the CCP in suppressing Taiwan's independence. This means that he wants to join hands with a communist party that is depriving the Chinese people of their right to choose, in order to block the free choice of the people of Taiwan.
First, all of this kowtowing is disrespectful toward all of the KMT members and their families who have been persecuted by the CCP. During the Chinese Civil War alone, millions of KMT officials and soldiers were killed by the CCP, and the innumerable relatives left in China by KMT soldiers and members have suffered humiliation by the CCP. Their children have been the target of systematic prejudice when it comes to education, employment and promotion, and they have had to take the brunt of every political movement. Every relative to a KMT member or soldier in China has a tragic tale to tell. So how can KMT members travel to Beijing, drink to the CCP, and then come back to face the descendants of KMT members?
These kowtowing trips are also disrespectful to the Chinese people. It is common knowledge that the CCP is unloved by the Chinese and that communism is evil. Fearful, hypocritical and lacking confidence, the CCP behaves like a coward walking through a graveyard, shouting nationalist slogans about its growing military strength and attacking Taiwan to muster some courage, while last year alone, it had to face almost 70,000 public demonstrations and protests -- almost 200 per day. This gives some measure of the public's dissatisfaction with the CCP.
The Taiwanese going to Beijing to pay their respects, however, use nationalist slogans such as "people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are ethnically Chinese" to deliberately and pointedly blur the systemic opposition between Taiwan's democracy and China's dictatorship. They recognize the legitimacy of the communist regime and help extend the CCP's hold on power, thereby seriously hampering any Chinese developments toward democracy. "Oppose Taiwan's independence" is the slogan China currently shouts the loudest in order to extend its hold on power.
Furthermore, these kowtowing trips are disrespectful toward the people of Taiwan. The KMT says it wants to join the CCP in suppressing Taiwan's independence, but what is "Taiwan's independence?" It is only one free option resulting from the people's right to choose freely.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has shown the same shortcomings as any other government, but who have they killed? Who have they imprisoned for pursuing democracy and freedom? The KMT during its past dictatorship -- ? and the CCP during its present dictatorship -- ?have killed innummerable people, and many witnesses have seen them commit criminal acts.
Taiwan has been ruled by the Dutch, the Qing dynasty and the Japanese. When the Taiwanese people have now, finally, won their freedom, they want to be the rulers of this land, and will not accept the murderous CCP regime. This is a reasonable demand and a basic human right. Those who travel to Beijing to pay their respects do not respect the public's right to choose, nor do they value Taiwan's freedom. Instead, they want to join hands with the CCP to deprive the Taiwanese people of their right to choose. This is a challenge to humanity, and history will punish these destroyers of democracy.
Cao Changqing is a writer based in the US.
Translated by Perry Svensson
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