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INTERVIEW: Su Beng believes sovereignty will come, but not yet

Well known independence activist Su Beng speaks at a rally organized by the Taiwan Association of University Professors at the Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall in Taipei on July 15 to demand that the statue of late dictator Chiang Kai-shek be removed from the hall. PHOTO: CNA

Long-term independence advocate Su Beng (史明) says Taiwan will become a sovereign nation, but to do so it will need help from the US.

Commenting on the recent uproar over the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) push for UN membership and a referendum on the nation's UN bid, Su urged the DPP administration to respect the role the US has played protecting Taiwan's safety over the years.

Su said he was worried that President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) defiance of the US' opposition to the UN bid would incite anti-American sentiment and sabotage the interests of Taiwanese.

"He may stir up the emotions of some people, but had he taken the national interest into consideration, he would have adopted a more diplomatic approach," 89-year-old Su said in an interview with the Taipei Times.

Without the support of the US, Su said the nation faces an uphill battle to become a member of the UN despite the backing of its 24 diplomatic allies.

He sees the UN campaign more as an election ploy targeted at winning next year's presidential race than as a means to confirm the nation's independence.

Su was pessimistic on whether the DPP and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would be willing to combine their referendums or drop them altogether, saying the two proposals were politically motivated.

As Taiwan is strategically important to the US in the Western Pacific, Su said the US could not afford to see it occupied by a hostile force.

"Taiwan has become the world's, not our own," he said. "However, it will be very difficult to achieve independence without a clear plan for nation-building and an effective strategy to achieve the goal."

The nation has been safe from a Chinese invasion since World War II thanks to the US, Su said. That was not because Americans love the Taiwanese, he said, but because of the US' national interests in the Asia-Pacific region.

The US government has been consistent in its commitment to protect Taiwan, despite the absence of diplomatic relations, he said.

Taking the Shanghai Communique of February 1972 as an example, Su said the US government stated its interest in a peaceful settlement of the Taiwan issue, while the People's Republic of China (PRC) opposed any activities that aimed to create "two Chinas."

The US reaffirmed its position in the 1979 Communique on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between the US and the PRC and the Joint Communique of the US and the PRC in 1982, Su said.

The Taiwan Relations Act of 1979 has also helped maintain peace, security and stability in the Taiwan Strait, while China has long had the ambition to take Taiwan and become a more dominant power in the Pacific and the world, Su said.

Unlike some pro-independence activists who claim Taiwan is already an independent nation, Su said it is not yet sovereign and the reason was simple.

"Former dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and his son Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) have been dead for decades, but the colonial rule of the Republic of China system still exists," he said.

Su criticized the KMT regime for continuing colonialism after taking over Taiwan. The KMT ruled Taiwan with an iron fist after losing the Chinese civil war to the Chinese Communist Party and withdrawing to Taiwan in 1949.

Su said Taiwanese had pinned their hopes on a change of government to bring justice, but, much to their disappointment, the DPP administration had failed to resolve the problems with the system of government.

The independence movement over the past five decades has been based on emotion rather than on reason, Su said.

To build an independent nation, Su said the political standards of the Taiwanese must change and reason should be allied with the general public's emotion.

Two paths must be adopted, he said.

First, overturn the political system, remove old colonial thinking that says "Taiwan is part of China," and practice democratic politics.

Second, demolish the old colonial systems and institutions one by one, promote "Taiwanese nationalism" and steadily approach the ideal of nation-building.

With Chen's "four noes" still in place, Su said he can not see any real prospect of realizing the goal of building an independent nation in the near future.

However, he believes the dream will eventually come true if the ambition and courage of the Taiwanese are sufficient and the strategy put in place is effective and well-planned.
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