By continuing to call their country the Republic of China, Taiwanese are sanctioning China's threat of a violent attack. The name implicitly and explicitly endorses Beijing's claims that Taiwan is part of China, that Taiwan and China have been separated only by civil war since the 1940s, and that the Taiwan-China issue is a domestic affair.
A large number of Taiwanese may disagree with this logic, but this is the message that Taiwan's name -- the Republic of China -- sends to the world.
China has not yet taken advantage of this situation because Chinese authorities are not convinced that the time is ripe for an attack.
Beijing is not certain what world reaction, or even domestic reaction, would be to an attack on Taiwan. And the Chinese government may yet hope that the Taiwanese might succumb to a peaceful surrender.
Grateful to the Chinese government for exercising restraint and maintaining the "status quo," Washington is willing to grant Beijing authorities anything they might ask for.
And what is it that the Chinese want? That Taiwanese continue to sanction their right to attack Taiwan by continuing to call their country "China."
With democracy comes responsibility. Taiwanese should not continue to delay the vital issue of what the national title ought to be. Avoiding the issue is a vote in favor of unification, dictatorship and war.
Michael Falick
Colorado Springs
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