The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) colonial party-state system has never really believed that Taiwan is the Republic of China (ROC), because the ROC is an exiled government that is only here temporarily.
During his presidential election campaigns, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) deceived voters and said that he identified with Taiwan in a bid to attract votes.
However, once in power, he betrayed his campaign pledges as was evidenced during his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Singapore on Nov. 7: Ma went against democracy by using the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to put pressure on Taiwan.
With Ma’s term about to end — branded with his low approval ratings, which once dropped to 9 percent — he saw the meeting with Xi as an opportunity to cement his name in the history books.
Everything he does and says relates to China and the pro-unification stance he inherited from his father.
Having agreed to meet with Xi at the 25th anniversary of the establishment of ties between China and Singapore, he is no better than former vice president Lien Chan (連戰), who disregarded his position and accepted Beijing’s invitation to attend its military parade marking the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War.
They both devoted themselves to the enemy — who humiliated them — shamelessly walking straight into China’s trap. They seem to share the same attitudes and intentions, as they scramble to curry favor with the party-state that ended their own party-state. They are incapable of leaving China and Chinese nationalism behind.
The PRC has never recognized the ROC, and the so-called “1992 consensus,” with its emphasis on “one China, different interpretations,” is Ma’s personal little lie.
For Beijing, there is only one China, so there is no need for any interpretations. Just look at how Chinese state broadcaster CCTV blurred a badge featuring the ROC’s national flag on Ma’s suit in a report on his international press conference prior to the Ma-Xi meeting. That was a heavy slap in Ma’s face that made it clear that China has no respect for him. Also, look at how Ma repeatedly mentioned the “1992 consensus” during the meeting with Xi, unable to keep himself from parroting China’s views in his statements.
Ma wants to force his successor to follow the “1992 consensus,” but without any mention of the ROC’s own interpretation. Ma is using despicable political tricks, focusing on China and ignoring Taiwan in an attempt to influence the cross-strait situation.
Can Taiwanese not see through Ma?
Many of the descendants of immigrants who relocated to Taiwan after World War II identify with Taiwan. Do they still pin any hopes on the so-called “ROC in Taiwan”?
Ma and Xi addressed each other as “Mr” at their meeting, but while the world recognizes Xi as the Chinese president, who is Ma? He is merely someone who bows his head to an enemy that wants to annex his party-state.
Since the ROC was kicked out of the UN in 1971, “the ROC” has merely been a name that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has held up to Taiwanese. Internationally, the ROC’s name and flag appears at almost no official events.
Ma is digging his own grave by holding so tightly on to the ROC Constitution. When will the PRC ever recognize the ROC as a state?
For the sake of the party’s own interests, the KMT does not recognize Taiwan’s political development — since the nation’s first direct presidential election in 1996 — as an opportunity for the reconstruction of the ROC state.
Instead, the party views these developments as a political variable that threatens its absolute rule. The party is so obsessed with the past that it only cares about any possible remaining value in cooperating with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Just like other former KMT leaders, Ma has attached himself to China and is helping Beijing suppress Taiwan in an attempt to wash his hands of any past anti-communist “sins” and win Beijing’s protection as he blocks the democratic development of Taiwan. Disregarding the “eternal regret” of former presidents Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) for having been forced into exile, Ma’s historical legacy lies in his termination of the antagonism between the KMT and CCP.
The Ma-Xi meeting took place despite the PRC not recognizing the ROC and trying everything it can to eliminate the ROC altogether. China took advantage of Ma’s vanity to set a trap by trying to offer the KMT a hand at a time when its rule is about to collapse. After lying repeatedly, Ma’s meeting with Xi was the last radiance of the setting sun, and it only highlights the KMT’s falsity.
Those who oppose democracy will drown in the tide of democratization. China must finally understand that Taiwan is not the KMT’s Taiwan, and true friendship between Taiwan and China can only be built when Beijing faces the real Taiwan.
Lee Min-yung is a poet.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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