Letter: The KMT needs to wake up

In the dark rooms of the KMT headquarters, in the secret meetings of leaders and hopefuls, beyond earshot, plans are probably being made in accord with promises likely already given to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) by former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜).

Power tastes so good, it is hard to lose forever. The trouble is, Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) has far different visions dancing in his head. He does not see Taiwan as anything other than a nasty little thorn, a scornful little bug that needs to be squashed. He sees it as a fruit that needs to be plucked, or a mine with precious stones to be pilfered. He sees it as a troublesome wart that needs to be lanced or excised, a nagging ache that needs to be relieved.

And when the KMT faithful -- yearning for the good old days when they ran everything, when their personal corruption was law, when their profiteering was legend and when the "locals" were overrun -- open their eyes one morning, they will see a raped and burned Taiwan, bereft of its industry, its technology, its resources, its financial power, its economy and also bereft of its freedom, independence, human rights and democracy.

Sooner or later, they will also find themselves, a troublesome little bug of a party, in the cross-hairs of Hu and the CCP, perhaps hiding in the same foxhole as those "pesky splittests" -- for in any dictatorship, there is only room for one dictator.

One day hopefully the KMT will wake up and realize that true history cannot be rewritten, because it is carried in the hearts and minds of free people.

Lee Long-hwa

United States