The “status quo” of the Republic of China (ROC) is a remnant of a Chinese regime leading a parasitic existence in Taiwan.
Since the ROC’s occupation of Taiwan in 1945, its sovereignty has continued to decline, as its rival, the People’s Republic of China, won the Chinese Civil War. In 1971, the international community declared the ROC “brain dead” with UN General Assembly Resolution 2758. Today, the majority of international law textbooks say that Taiwan, with its very few diplomatic allies, is “a political entity that does not pursue independence,” a de facto local government in civil war and even that it is still legally “a part of China.”
If the “status quo” is maintained, Taiwan and China would not be two separate and independent nations with neither having jurisdiction over the other. As Taiwan is administered by an empty shell that is the ROC, all its territorial claims would continue to be rejected in international courts and ownership of these territories would be inherited by China. Taiwan would not be able to join international organizations as a nation and it would at best be able to take part on the international stage as an observer, dependent on China’s “benevolence.”
If Taiwanese are wronged in a foreign nation, they would be unable to obtain diplomatic protection and would have to seek assistance at a Chinese embassy, while facing the risk of being deported to China. Taiwan would continue not to have orbits into which it can place telecommunications satellites that it has purchased and it would have to ask pro-China Singapore for help, putting its military and civil security at great risk.
Taiwanese can only hope that this terrible “status quo,” which even Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said he hoped that Taiwan would continue to maintain, is not the “status quo” that president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) promised to maintain during the presidential election campaign.
In order to create a “status quo” than differs from the old “status quo” after Tsai is sworn in on May 20, the ROC must be transformed into a platform whose only function is to advance the Taiwanese public’s best interests and to once again start to invest in Taiwan to make amends for the past 70 years of exploitation and colonization. The incoming government should push for constitutional amendments, deepen civic democracy and create an environment conducive to facilitating self-determination.
At the same time, the new government should speed up the process of replacing the old bureaucracy that holds to a Chinese mentality and cultivate a new generation of talented people. Furthermore, it should rely on cross-strait agreement oversight regulations adhering to international standards to clean up deals that clause harm to Taiwan’s sovereignty.
These tasks might not be able to swiftly solve all the problems, but they are necessary for ensuring that Taiwanese have the right to choose independence.
There are of course faster and simpler ways to bring about such transformation. For example, promptly enacting a refugee act and granting political asylum to dissidents from China, Hong Kong, Macau and Tibet, allowing well-known figures who support self-determination, such as the Dalai Lama and World Uyghur Congress president Rebiya Kadeer, to visit Taiwan and give public lectures, thus transforming the nation into a sanctuary of human rights.
China would not like that, but in its desperation and frustration, it would only make a fool out of itself through the actions it takes.
Chris Huang is an associate professor at National Tsing Hua University’s Institute of Law for Science and Technology.
Translated by Ethan Zhan
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