The US denial of Taiwan's statehood has helped the nation's people recognize the predicament they face in the international community, analysts say.
The prospect of the country applying for UN membership led to controversy over its statehood, with the US saying that Taiwan, or the Republic of China (ROC), is not at this point a state as its status has been left "undecided" for many years.
This view, presented by Dennis Wilder, the senior Asian affairs advisor in the US National Security Council, drew intriguing reactions from pro-independence activists as they have long based their nation-building campaign on the theory that Taiwan's status is undecided.
The US explicitly mentioning the theory, the first time since it switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, however, is now harsh to the ear of pro-independence supporters.
What added to the intrigue was that those in favor of unification with China, who have been in opposition to the theory, are now hailing the US view.
For example, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (
Chen Wen-hsien (陳文賢), professor of Taiwanese history at National Chengchi University, said it was understandable that pro-independence activists were unhappy with the US' announcement.
"It's a mainstream belief in Taiwan that Taiwan is a country. The US disapproval of Taiwan's existence as a nation obviously runs counter to people's democratization experiences in building up the country," he said.
But he said the public should remain positive in light of the US view and try to work out a theory that can legitimatize the country's statehood within the realm of international law.
When discussing the position of Taiwan since the end of World War II, China uses documents such as the 1943 Cairo Declaration which states that "Formosa and the Pescadores shall be returned to the Republic of China," and the 1945 Potsdam Declaration that reaffirms the Cairo Declaration to exert its claims of sovereignty over Taiwan.
Pro-independence activists, however, argue that both declarations were later overridden by the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty, Article 2 of which stipulates that "Japan renounces all right, title and claim to Formosa and the Pescadores" but left the question of who would assume sovereignty over those territories unanswered.
They also emphasize the 1952 Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty, which reiterates Article 2 and does not elaborate on who Taiwan belongs to.
Since former US president Harry Truman initiated the San Francisco Peace Treaty in 1950, the US has never interpreted Taiwan's "undecided" status as it being part of People's Republic of China (PRC), said Lee Shiao-feng (李筱峰), a professor of history at Shih Hsin University.
It should be China, not Taiwan, that is upset about Wilder's statement as it has been China's wish that the US would "recognize" China's ownership of Taiwan since its failure to get the US to agree to it when it established diplomatic relations, Lee said.
In the Joint Communique on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations with China, the US "acknowledges" rather than "recognizes" the PRC position that Taiwan is part of China.
"Previously the US wished to keep its stance on the status of Taiwan as vague as possible. Now that it has reiterated that there is a lack of consensus on Taiwan's international status, it has provided the public with incentives to pursue internationally recognized statehood," Lee said.
Lee said the US would try hard to prevent Taiwan from taking actions it sees as steps towards independence, but would not accept the Chinese position.
Chen Yi-shen (陳儀深), a researcher at Academia Sinica's Institute of Modern History, said Wilder was simply telling the truth -- a country called the ROC does not exist anymore, while a country named Taiwan has yet to be established.
He said that Ma completely misinterpreted Wilder's words when he said that the US has left open the possibility that the country can return to the UN as the ROC.
"What Wilder said is the simple fact that the ROC doesn't exist," Chen Yi-shen said, adding that this dates back to 1979 when the US passed the Taiwan Relations Act.
In 2004, the US made a strong statement to discourage what it defined as "steps towards independence" President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had taken following the "defensive referendum" held alongside that year's presidential election.
Former US secretary of state Colin Powell told Hong Kong's Phoenix Television: "There is only one China. Taiwan is not independent. It does not enjoy sovereignty as a nation, and that remains our policy, our firm policy."
"Considering what Powell said, if there is anything new to be learned from Wilder's statement, it should be a lesson for people like Ma who believe that the name ROC is workable in the international community," Chen Yi-shen said.
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