An opinion poll released by news Web site my-formosa.com showed that 46.3 percent of Taiwanese accept that the “two sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one China” should apply so that cross-strait negotiations could resume, while only 36.7 percent disagreed.
Compared with a previous poll conducted by the news site about a year-and-a-half ago, public opinion on the issue has reversed. Moreover, this time around, most respondents said that the government should take more responsibility than Beijing for the deadlock in cross-strait talks.
Pan-green camp supporters have little faith in the outlet; they question polls conducted by my-formosa, which is run by Wu Tzu-chia (吳子嘉).
Despite this contention, the influence of traditional independence forces on the public is in unarguable decline.
The number of those identifying as “Taiwanese” — instead of “Chinese” — has remained higher than 70 percent for years and many have been drawn into the independence camp.
However, those referred to as part of the “natural independence” generation simply acknowledge Taiwan as a country irrespective of their political stance, which is quite different from traditional independence forces, who formed under Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) rule.
At that time, the Republic of China and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) merged into a party-state and the goal of independence forces of the time was to overturn the party-state system.
Independence advocates during the Martial Law era could be called “independence veterans.” They used to have considerable influence on pan-green supporters, mainly because, under the oppression of the party-state, they were seen as heroes to be emulated.
However, since the transition of government power in 2000, people no longer face political persecution for supporting independence; they can even benefit from supporting it. So the new generation is what could be called the “independence nouveau riche.”
This group has no influence over their predecessors, let alone the general public. Since democratization, people have moved on from the tragic oppression of the past and can no longer see the evil side of the party-state.
No longer a target of political persecution, today’s nouveau riche will not become heroes. Instead, they have packaged themselves as “masters” to promote their political platform.
The respected independence veterans are humble. The humbler they are, the more they are respected. By contrast, the “masters” often attack the platform of other independence advocates, revealing their own arrogance.
People need friends in a democratic society and should therefore adopt an attitude of “whoever is not my enemy is my friend.”
However, the nouveau riche have adopted an attitude of “whoever is not my friend is my enemy.”
No wonder they are losing friends and their influence over the public.
Chen Mao-hsiung is chairman of the Society for the Promotion of Taiwanese Security.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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