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Mon, Apr 23, 2001 - Page 3　News List

Planes, bargaining chips and Taiwan's identity

Events that shake US-China relations in one way or another always have an impact on Taiwan's ties with both nations. last week, `Taipei Times' staff reporter William Ide spoke with Ruan Ming, a visiting professor at Tamkang University and former secretary to China's Communist Party Chairman Hu Yaobang, about the US-China tussle over the recent spy plane collision and how Taiwan's sense of identity has changed over the past year since President Chen Shui-bian stepped into office

The ROC is on Taiwan. If it is anywhere else, where in the world would that be? ... When Lee was around, Taiwan was an independent, sovereign country, just like England and the US ... Now it's clear that all of those within the KMT were just putting on a show.

When Lee was around, he would refer to the KMT as the KMT of Taiwan. But now what does Lien Chan (連戰) say, have you noticed? He doesn't just say the KMT, he says "China's KMT."

China's KMT, as if the KMT represents all of the people in China (laughing). How can he represent China's 1.2 billion people?

In this way, the idea of Taiwan's sovereignty, Taiwan's sense of identity, has taken major steps backward. Lee's KMT and the Lien Chan's KMT are total opposites.

But now Lien Chan's KMT has control over the media and this kind of trend is heading in an opposite direction ... this kind of change isn't progress, it's digression.

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