Taiwan must rectify its name because all the difficulties it has encountered are linked to its impractical name "the Republic of China," former president Lee Teng-hui (
Taiwan must begin to correct its name, making the nation and its official name consistent with reality, Lee said in his article.
In early September, between 100,000 and 150,000 people gathered in front of the Presidential Office to support a proposal for what is called the "rectification" of Taiwan's name, he said.
"As I worked to advance the cause of freedom and democracy in Taiwan during my 12 years as president, I met with many difficulties and obstacles that brought me to the conclusion that Taiwan is not a `normal country,'" he said.
A normal country's path towards development is influenced by its history and by its geography. People seek the most advantageous course by reflecting upon their past and considering where they are situated in the physical world, Lee said.
But over the past two centuries, Taiwan has been ruled by alien powers, Lee said.
Its goals and political system, in particular, have been imposed by outside regimes, without any influence by the people of Taiwan, without any heed of their views and needs. For a very long time, outside powers dictated the way life was lived by Taiwan's people.
Even now -- three years after the democratic transfer of political power -- we suffer from the debilitating effect of this historical burden, Lee said.
The people of Taiwan still are unable to muster the determination to be their own masters, to shoulder the responsibilities they alone ought to bear, to deliberate on the nation's future goals, to bravely face challenges and pursue ideals.
This is a cause for regret, and it must be remedied, Lee said.
While, admittedly, the establishment and progress of a nation cannot be shackled by history, it cannot completely dissociate itself from the past, Lee said.
Lee said that history cannot be changed, but the future is for Taiwanese to define. How we define our identity is an exercise made against the backdrop of our antecedents.
One reason Taiwan is not a "normal country" is because it has not been able to come to terms with its own history and to establish a Taiwan-centric frame of thinking.
Creating a Taiwan-centred environment and realizing the ideals of a normal country are the goals towards which Taiwan should strive, Lee said.
He said that he recently claimed that "the Republic of China no longer exists" because of three reasons:
First, when the Republic of China was established in 1912, it by no means encompassed Taiwan;
Next, after World War II, the ROC was a military occupier of Taiwan, and Taiwan's actual status ought to be deemed a land belonging to no country, whose international status has yet to be defined -- not as a part of the Republic of China's already-existing territory;
Lastly, after 1949 -- when Chinese communists took the territory of the Republic of China -- the Republic of China in fact no longer possessed any territory, with only its name continuing to exist.
Although the name "Republic of China" was hung on Taiwan, ever since the People's Republic of China supplanted the Republic of China in the UN in 1971, the Republic of China vanished from the international community. People should realize that the "Republic of China" is just an official name, not a nation, Lee said.
He said that through democratization, Taiwan has finally established a native, Taiwan-rooted democratic regime.
Such a native government ought to plan for the well-being of all Taiwan's inhabitants, serve the people and work hard to act on the public's demand for the rectification of the country's name to reflect the identity of its people, Lee said.
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