Pro-independence groups yesterday dismissed comments by a visiting Chinese official after he told a seminar in Taipei that the Taiwan independence movement was “doomed.”
Zheng Bijian (鄭必堅), a former vice president of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Central Party School, said yesterday in Taipei that Taiwanese efforts to seek independence were doomed because most Taiwanese expected continuous development of cross-strait relations.
“To this day, the contest between seeking independence and anti-independence has yet to end,” Zheng said at the seminar titled “60 Years Across the Taiwan Strait.”
“Because mainstream public opinion is for a continuous, peaceful and stable development of cross-strait relations, however, efforts to seek independence are doomed to decline and fall,” he said.
Taiwan Society secretary-general Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) said Zheng had misinterpreted public opinion, that support for independence has been increasing and support for unification has been declining, while the majority favors the “status quo.”
Saying that Zheng had intentionally misrepresented the facts, Lo said his purpose was to bring political issues to the negotiating table and he wanted to show Taiwanese that Beijing was confident it could resolve the “Taiwan problem.”
“China must realize that, while it is eager to resolve the ‘Taiwan problem,’ it will backfire because it will arouse the awareness of those who support independence,” Lo said.
Yao Chia-wen (姚嘉文), head of the Hand-in-Hand Taiwan Alliance, said Zheng’s comments were “wishful thinking.”
“Zheng’s assertion that support for independence is declining and that the independence movement is bound to fail is far from the truth. On the one hand, the ‘status quo’ will remain for a long time given the current international situation. On the other, both sides of the Strait won’t be able to find a peaceful resolution without respecting the opinions of the people on the other side,” Yao said.
Paul Lin (林保華), a political commentator, said Zheng had gotten the whole China-Taiwan issue wrong.
“It’s not unification versus independence, but authoritarianism versus democracy and freedom,” Lin said.
If China continues as an autocracy, it would be impossible for Taiwanese to accept a peace agreement because it would be tantamount to submitting to the “rule of violence,” Lin said.
Zheng is leading a group of Chinese experts on Taiwan affairs who are attending the two-day seminar, organized by the Taipei-based Pacific Cultural Foundation.
Zheng said “a new type of cross-strait relationship” was gradually developing as the two sides are moving from military confrontation and isolation toward dialogue, exchanges and cooperation.
“We sternly oppose Taiwan seeking independence, but the Taiwanese ideology of loving their hometown and their land, and seeking to be their own masters is absolutely not equal to being pro-independence,” Zheng said.
Zheng expressed hope that both sides could work together to welcome a new era that would be peaceful and stable.
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