Activists want Taiwan name change

Pro-independence activists yesterday called on the Chen administration to rectify the official name of Taiwan in a bid to show the Taiwanese and the international community that Taiwan is a independent sovereign state.

"Communist China has no right to claim Taiwan as part of its territory because it has never governed Taiwan before nor invested a single penny on the island," said the Reverend Kao Chun-ming (高俊明) of the Presbyterian Church of Taiwan (台灣基督長老教會).

Kao added that it is important and urgent to change the official name of Taiwan because if Taiwan waits longer, the country's position will be in more danger.

"I'm afraid if we don't do it now, we're putting our country's future in jeopardy," he said.

Kao made the remark at a forum dubbed "Rectifying the Name of Taiwan -- The Basic Rights of Taiwanese People" (台灣正名 -- 台灣人民的基本權利) held in downtown Taipei yesterday afternoon.

He was one of seven panel guests sharing their views with the audience at the event organized by the Taiwan New Century Foundation (台灣新世紀文化基金會).

Kao cited two recent examples to stress the importance of the issue.

"When the entire nation celebrated the third place position at the 34th Baseball World Cup, few people knew that the name of our team is Chinese Taipei," Kao said.

"When the country rejoiced over Taiwan's final accession to the World Trade Organization, few paid attention to the official name we use -- the separate customs territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu."

Kao called on the Legislative Yuan to approve his group's proposal as soon as possible.

"I hope that the legislature shows some guts and resolve. We'd like the name of our country to genuinely represent the true identify of Taiwan," he said.

Liao Fu-te (廖福特), an assistant research fellow at the Institute of European and American Studies at Academia Sinica, said that while activists are calling for change, equal attention has to be paid to the country's controversial "flexible foreign policy."

"Although the strategy has helped Taiwan secure some diplomatic allies in the international arena, it has also had some after-effects," Liao said.

For example, of the 17 international government organizations Taiwan belongs to, Taiwan uses eight different names, ranging from Chinese Taipei or China (Taiwan) to Republic of China or Taiwan.

"Some of them, such as Taiwan and Republic of China, sound as if Taiwan is a sovereign state; while others, such as Chinese Taipei, and China (Taiwan), clearly state that Taiwan is a part of China," he said.

Names of the de facto embassies in Taiwan or Taiwan's trade offices in foreign countries are similarly confusing, he said. Some of them us the Republic of China on Taiwan, some use Taiwan, ROC and others use Taipei.

Liao proposed to immediately change those names that fail to indicate that Taiwan is a sovereign state.

"Taiwan has experienced two major diplomatic stages since we withdrew from the United Nations in 1971: isolation and breakthrough," he said. "Now it's time to enter a new era."