The Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) National Congress that opens on Sunday will be a key factor in shaping the political environment of Taiwan, not only in terms of next year's legislative and presidential elections, but also the future of the DPP. The focus of the meeting will be on whether to add a clause to the "normal country resolution" stipulating that the nation's title shall be changed to "Taiwan."
The "Republic of China" (ROC) now exists in name only. Quickly changing the national title to "Taiwan" is the hope of most DPP members. But when the DPP's Central Standing Committee discussed the resolution, the words "correcting the nation's official title to Taiwan" in the draft were replaced by the vaguer "writing a new constitution and the correction of the national title as soon as possible."
This kind of substitution gives people the feeling that it was done in a perfunctory manner. What does "as soon as possible" mean? When will that be? This sounds like a Chinese cookbook that talks about adding "some salt" or a "suitable amount of sugar." The meaning is lost.
In Western cookbooks, amounts are precisely written in teaspoons or grams. The vagueness and over generalization in the resolution leaves one feeling they are just empty phrases.
Another crucial factor is the deletion of the words "correcting the nation's official title to Taiwan" in the draft. This strips the resolution of its soul. The 300,000 supporters who took to the streets in Kaohsiung and the 4,000 people who gathered at a rally in New York to push for the UN referendum under the name "Taiwan" show that only the name "Taiwan" arouses people's passion.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (
If the DPP's presidential candidate moves closer to the political middle ground, however, he will be abandoning the ideals behind writing a new constitution and correcting the national title, which would take Taiwan further along the path toward normal statehood.
The name "Taiwan" is the DPP's trump card. Dropping this card and following Ma toward the center would be a mistake in principle as well as in strategy.
Playing the "Taiwan" card can not only consolidate the pan-green camp, but also build support for the DPP.
Statistics from the Government Information Office show there have been more than 1,600 reports published by the international media reflecting the Taiwanese government's active UN bid this year. This figure is four to eight times more than in past years.
Former US senator Bob Dole, who was also the US Republican Party's 1996 presidential candidate, published an article in the Wall Street Journal supporting Taiwan's UN bid. Dole wrote that "... the country is applying under its own name [`Taiwan'] rather than its official appellation [`ROC'], which is certainly worthy of public support." He also wrote that "[Taiwan] meets all of the requirements of statehood under law."
An opinion poll showed that about 80 percent of Americans know that Taiwan is a country, but that only one percent of Americans know that Taiwan is not a UN member.
The opinion poll published on Sunday by the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister newspaper) explained the situation: 70 percent of Americans say that if Taiwan passes its referendum on a UN bid under the name "Taiwan," the US should not oppose the wishes of the Taiwanese.
Clearly, only if Taiwanese speak up and reveal the truth will they be able to elicit sincere support.
Meanwhile, in the run-up to the DPP's National Congress, DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun has been indicted for allegedly misusing his "special allowance fund."
As the pan-blue camp is attempting to get rid of the DPP heavyweights through judicial means, conscientious DPP supporters who have set the future of Taiwan as their top priority should form a support group urging Yu not to resign from his post.
At the same time, all DPP supporters should advocate the inclusion of the words "correcting the nation's official title to Taiwan" in the "normal country resolution." History is in the making.
Cao Changqing is a political commentator based in the US.
Translated by Lin Ya-ti
As strategic tensions escalate across the vast Indo-Pacific region, Taiwan has emerged as more than a potential flashpoint. It is the fulcrum upon which the credibility of the evolving American-led strategy of integrated deterrence now rests. How the US and regional powers like Japan respond to Taiwan’s defense, and how credible the deterrent against Chinese aggression proves to be, will profoundly shape the Indo-Pacific security architecture for years to come. A successful defense of Taiwan through strengthened deterrence in the Indo-Pacific would enhance the credibility of the US-led alliance system and underpin America’s global preeminence, while a failure of integrated deterrence would
The Executive Yuan recently revised a page of its Web site on ethnic groups in Taiwan, replacing the term “Han” (漢族) with “the rest of the population.” The page, which was updated on March 24, describes the composition of Taiwan’s registered households as indigenous (2.5 percent), foreign origin (1.2 percent) and the rest of the population (96.2 percent). The change was picked up by a social media user and amplified by local media, sparking heated discussion over the weekend. The pan-blue and pro-China camp called it a politically motivated desinicization attempt to obscure the Han Chinese ethnicity of most Taiwanese.
On Wednesday last week, the Rossiyskaya Gazeta published an article by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) asserting the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) territorial claim over Taiwan effective 1945, predicated upon instruments such as the 1943 Cairo Declaration and the 1945 Potsdam Proclamation. The article further contended that this de jure and de facto status was subsequently reaffirmed by UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 of 1971. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs promptly issued a statement categorically repudiating these assertions. In addition to the reasons put forward by the ministry, I believe that China’s assertions are open to questions in international
The Legislative Yuan passed an amendment on Friday last week to add four national holidays and make Workers’ Day a national holiday for all sectors — a move referred to as “four plus one.” The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who used their combined legislative majority to push the bill through its third reading, claim the holidays were chosen based on their inherent significance and social relevance. However, in passing the amendment, they have stuck to the traditional mindset of taking a holiday just for the sake of it, failing to make good use of
RSS