In his Oct. 25 piece in the China Times, Taipei Mayor and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), with great rhetorical skill and subtle distortion, misrepresented Taiwanese history and the beliefs about one of Taiwan's most respected democracy pioneers.
Ma asserted that my grandfather Kuo Yu-hsin (
In his written statement presented to the US Congress during hearings on Taiwan before the Committee on Foreign Affairs on Feb. 7 and 8, 1979, entitled "The People of Taiwan Demand Self-Determination and Independence," he stated: "The future of Taiwan should be determined by the people of Taiwan alone, in accordance with the principle of self-determination. Given a free chance, we will reject domination by People's Republic of China and continued dictatorship by the KMT. Meanwhile, we will undeniably promote democratic institutions a la America, British or Swiss style, pursue a free, equitable economic system, seek peace with all nations, and safeguard independence -- de facto and de jure -- for Taiwan, our sacred homeland."
In 1978, Kuo Yu-hsin ran by proxy against Chiang Ching-kuo (
"The future status of Taiwan must be determined only by the people who live in the island of Taiwan. We, the Taiwanese, repudiate the present Nationalist [KMT] regime who, in the name of China, perpetuates a repressive minority rule in Taiwan. We also repudiate the People's Republic of China for its political and territorial ambitions over Taiwan.
"The right to self-determination of the Taiwanese people is not negotiable. We firmly believe that when the people of Taiwan are permitted to openly and freely express their political choice, they will overwhelmingly choose to establish a new and independent country of their own, in which freedom, equality, justice, and democracy prevail."
Kuo Yu-hsin spent most of his life fighting for human rights, freedom and democracy. After serving 25 years in the Provincial Assembly, where he championed social legislation on behalf of farmers, workers, the elderly and the handicapped, he made an unsuccessful bid for the legislature in a campaign that has been well-documented as fraught with election fraud by the KMT.
After years of living under constant surveillance and the threat of assassination by the KMT, Kuo moved to the US in 1977 in self-imposed exile. There, he founded the Overseas Alliance for Democratic Rule in Taiwan and lobbied the US Congress for support on the establishment of democratic rule and human rights in Taiwan.
More than 25 years ago, before even the formation of the Democratic Progressive Party, Kuo Yu-hsin already understood that Taiwan was a de facto independent country. He believed that given a choice -- one made without fear and coercion -- the people of Taiwan would overwhelmingly support a declaration and establishment of formal independence. Kuo Yu-hsin's vision for Taiwan was an independent, internationally recognized Taiwan Nation.
DeeAnn Kuo
Fairfax, Virginia
What began on Feb. 28 as a military campaign against Iran quickly became the largest energy-supply disruption in modern times. Unlike the oil crises of the 1970s, which stemmed from producer-led embargoes, US President Donald Trump is the first leader in modern history to trigger a cascading global energy crisis through direct military action. In the process, Trump has also laid bare Taiwan’s strategic and economic fragilities, offering Beijing a real-time tutorial in how to exploit them. Repairing the damage to Persian Gulf oil and gas infrastructure could take years, suggesting that elevated energy prices are likely to persist. But the most
In late January, Taiwan’s first indigenous submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), completed its first submerged dive, reaching a depth of roughly 50m during trials in the waters off Kaohsiung. By March, it had managed a fifth dive, still well short of the deep-water and endurance tests required before the navy could accept the vessel. The original delivery deadline of November last year passed months ago. CSBC Corp, Taiwan, the lead contractor, now targets June and the Ministry of National Defense is levying daily penalties for every day the submarine remains unfinished. The Hai Kun was supposed to be
Most schoolchildren learn that the circumference of the Earth is about 40,000km. They do not learn that the global economy depends on just 160 of those kilometers. Blocking two narrow waterways — the Strait of Hormuz and the Taiwan Strait — could send the economy back in time, if not to the Stone Age that US President Donald Trump has been threatening to bomb Iran back to, then at least to the mid-20th century, before the Rolling Stones first hit the airwaves. Over the past month and a half, Iran has turned the Strait of Hormuz, which is about 39km wide at
There is a peculiar kind of political theater unfolding in East Asia — one that would be laughable if its consequences were not so dangerous. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) on April 12 returned from Beijing, where she met Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and spoke earnestly about preserving “peace” and maintaining the “status quo.” It is a position that sounds responsible, even prudent. It is also a fiction. Taiwan is, by any honest definition, an independent country. It governs itself, defends itself, elects its leaders, and functions as a free and sovereign democracy. Independence is not a
RSS