When it comes to the issue of Taiwanese sovereignty, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is the big brute sitting by the road armed to the hilt and collecting money to let people pass, while the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is a meek little coward that keeps messing things up.
The KMT has forced Taiwanese to accept a foreign constitution, and keeps saying such things as “the Republic of China’s [ROC] sovereignty encompasses all of China, including the People’s Republic of China [PRC]” and constructing fairy tales about being the only legitimate government of all of China. It is using these lies to hawk its party-state drug.
The DPP’s Taiwan independence clause declares the nation’s sovereignty and independence, that it does not belong to the PRC and that its sovereignty does not encompass China. Not only is this in line with historical fact, it reflects the actual situation. The clause is the only way to put the knife to the so-called “ROC Constitution” using democratic means.
So what is it that is so problematic with the clause? Why does the DPP want to scrap it or freeze it? There is nothing wrong with it.
The problem is that the DPP admits that it is incapable of changing the “one China” forged by the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and that it does not dare come near the red line China has drawn with its military threat. The DPP is incapable of implementing its party charter and leading Taiwan toward its ultimate goal of a proper constitution, yet continues to claim that Taiwan is already an independent and sovereign country. Although the party is a bit more humble and a bit more honest than the KMT, it is still quite far from the truth.
If Taiwan really was a sovereign and independent country as the DPP says, would DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) have to hide behind the Resolution on Taiwan’s Future or stress that the 23 million Taiwanese will decide the nation’s future? If Taiwan really was sovereign and independent and its future really was settled, then another decision by 23 million Taiwanese to that effect would be redundant.
The idea of deciding whether to freeze the clause based on the idea that Taiwan is already a sovereign and independent country is flawed. Taiwan may be sovereign and independent, but it cannot obtain the status of a regular country, because while sovereignty and independence are necessary requirements to obtaining national status, they are not the only requirements.
Former DPP legislator Julian Kuo (郭正亮), who wants to freeze the clause, says that the DPP is not striving to achieve independence, but to maintain it. This is disingenuous word play, because it separates independence from nationhood. Kuo, former DPP legislator Chen Zau-nan (陳昭南) and others have caused the DPP to lose its true nature. By asking the party’s Central Executive Committee to decide whether to freeze the clause, Tsai has highlighted the party’s problems rather than sweeping them under the rug.
Consider this comparison: This year is the 50th anniversary of Peng Ming-min (彭明敏), Hsieh Tsung-min (謝聰敏) and Wei Ting-chao (魏廷朝) publishing the Declaration of Formosan Self-Salvation. It is also Peng’s 90th birthday.
In Chinese writer Cao Changqing’s (曹長青) words, the declaration can be summarized in 12 words — “writing a new constitution, founding a new country and joining the UN.”
Do any of these three ideas not point toward self-salvation? Can any one of them be obfuscated by talking about “sovereignty and independence?”
Taiwanese do not have the time to play around “freezing the independence clause.” How long can they stand idly by and do nothing?
Chin Heng-wei is a political commentator.
Translated by Perry Svensson
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