The Chinese dictatorship on the other side of the Taiwan Strait is fond of claiming that Taiwan is “part of China.”
Beijing has also been busy poaching Taiwan’s diplomatic allies and demanding that the world’s airlines change Taiwan’s name to Taiwan (China).
It is essential that the government issues the following robust response: “Taiwan is not part of China.”
Unfortunately, at present, the only direct response from the government to these affronts to the nation’s sovereignty has been an article published in the Washington Post, written by an official at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York.
The article emphasized that “Taiwan is not and has never been part of the People’s Republic of China [PRC].”
This is a factual statement, but it is made at too low a level and leaves room for Beijing to engage in some semantic subterfuge.
CLARITY
Taiwan is not part of any other nation’s territory be it the PRC or “China.”
There should be absolute clarity on this point.
The PRC is the official title of China and it is acknowledged as the only legal representative government of China.
From the perspective of Taiwan, China is therefore an entirely separate nation.
Many Taiwanese now say that “Taiwan is not part of China” — a phrase is born out of a fundamental recognition and consensus for “natural independence.”
Only the most rabidly pro-China, pro-unification members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) still parrot the “one China” formula, with each side having its own “interpretation” of what that China is, or “both sides of the Taiwan Strait are one family” — an echo of a similar phrase used by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).
LECTURES
Meanwhile, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), kicking his heels in retirement, now spends his time boring the pants off Taiwanese university students by repeating lies about the Cairo Declaration and the so-called “1992 consensus.”
Ma has also been discussing diplomatic relations between the US and China with pro-China media outlets in Taiwan, saying that “the US acknowledges that Taiwan is part of China,” which he went on to explain means that “the US does not recognize the PRC’s claim of sovereignty over Taiwan, but it also does not dispute the Republic of China’s [ROC] legitimacy to rule Taiwan.”
In just a few short sentences, Ma succeeded in making his confused verbal contortions look ridiculous.
The US’ position is not that it “acknowledges that Taiwan is part of China,” but rather that it “acknowledges that the PRC’s position is that Taiwan is part of China.”
NO RECOGNITION
The US has also never “recognized” the PRC’s claim to sovereignty over Taiwan and, in the same vein, has never “recognized” the ROC’s claim to sovereignty over Taiwan.
Ma employed verbal gymnastics to claim that the US “does not dispute the ROC’s claim to sovereignty over Taiwan,” but the truth is that the US has established a legal basis that recognizes the right of “the governing authorities on Taiwan” to rule Taiwan.
China is fishing in troubled waters.
The government must clearly assert Taiwan’s national status, the first step of which is to state without equivocation that “Taiwan is not part of China.”
James Wang is a media commentator.
Translated by Edward Jones
Taiwanese pragmatism has long been praised when it comes to addressing Chinese attempts to erase Taiwan from the international stage. “Taipei” and the even more inaccurate and degrading “Chinese Taipei,” imposed titles required to participate in international events, are loathed by Taiwanese. That is why there was huge applause in Taiwan when Japanese public broadcaster NHK referred to the Taiwanese Olympic team as “Taiwan,” instead of “Chinese Taipei” during the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics. What is standard protocol for most nations — calling a national team by the name their country is commonly known by — is impossible for
India is not China, and many of its residents fear it never will be. It is hard to imagine a future in which the subcontinent’s manufacturing dominates the world, its foreign investment shapes nations’ destinies, and the challenge of its economic system forces the West to reshape its own policies and principles. However, that is, apparently, what the US administration fears. Speaking in New Delhi last week, US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau warned that “we will not make the same mistakes with India that we did with China 20 years ago.” Although he claimed the recently agreed framework
The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) on Wednesday last week announced it is launching investigations into 16 US trading partners, including Taiwan, under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to determine whether they have engaged in unfair trade practices, such as overproduction. A day later, the agency announced a separate Section 301 investigation into 60 economies based on the implementation of measures to prohibit the importation of goods produced with forced labor. Several of Taiwan’s main trading rivals — including China, Japan, South Korea and the EU — also made the US’ investigation list. The announcements come
Taiwan is not invited to the table. It never has been, but this year, with the Philippines holding the ASEAN chair, the question that matters is no longer who gets formally named, it is who becomes structurally indispensable. The “one China” formula continues to do its job. It sets the outer boundary of official diplomatic speech, and no one in the region has a serious interest in openly challenging it. However, beneath the surface, something is thickening. Trade corridors, digital infrastructure, artificial intelligence (AI) cooperation, supply chains, cross-border investment: The connective tissue between Taiwan and ASEAN is quietly and methodically growing
RSS