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Editorial: Time to recognize realities

During the general interpellation session at the Legislative Yuan, Premier Tang Fei (唐飛) explained that the effective sovereignty of the Republic of China is limited to the areas of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu (台澎金馬), and that the Guidelines for National Unification (國統綱領) contain legal defects. Tang deserves recognition for his practical way of describing the state of the nation. But instead he came under sharp attack from several corners for his candid remarks.

Tang's detractors maintain that Taiwan's territory should be described according to the "existing national boundaries" (固有疆域) as stipulated in the Constitution and therefore should cover both China and Mongolia. However, even the Taiwanese people cannot bring themselves to believe these absurd assertions, let alone the international community.

Seemingly backed up by the Constitution, the "existing national boundaries" is another example of "each side free to make its own interpretation" (各自表述) obfuscation, since there are a few options for the definition of such a term.

It could mean the boundaries that existed when the ROC was established in 1912. At the time, Taiwan had already been ceded to Japan following China's defeat in the 1895 Sino-Japanese war. Therefore, in this case, Taiwan is not a part of the ROC's existing national boundaries.

It could mean the boundaries that existed in 1947, when the ROC enacted its Constitution. In this case, since the Republic of Mongolia was already established at the time and had won international recognition, outer Mongolia could not be counted as part of the ROC.

If we take 1949 -- the year the Chinese Communist Party established the PRC -- as the defining year, then the ROC's existing national boundaries cannot include China.

If we are practical in our understanding of the current split, then we can see that the ROC only has effective control over the regions of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu. It should be very clear what choice most people would pick.

If someone said there was a country whose territorial claim covers UN members like the PRC, the Republic of Mongolia, the Republic of Tajikistan and the Republic of Kyrgystan, that person would be an international laughing stock. But people would stop laughing and start furrowing their brows if a non-UN member named the ROC started making territorial claims over those same four UN members, because now it would be a political headache.

Those who continue to maintain that the ROC's territory covers China -- with or without outer Mongolia -- will also have difficulty making their case convincing domestically. After all, the ROC government has not been able effectively to administer the Chinese mainland and outer Mongolia since 1949. It has not collected any taxes from those areas, nor has it enforced its laws there.

Similarly, the PRC's territorial sovereignty has never reached the areas of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu. It has neither collected any taxes nor enforced its laws here. Therefore, the assertion that the PRC's territory includes Taiwan is also out of touch with reality.

Sovereignty has to be based on jurisdiction, without which sovereignty will remain a political claim. As for those who still make these outlandish territorial claims, we hope they will open their eyes and take a good, hard look at the world around them -- and then stop saying things that will confuse the public, cause instability across the Taiwan Strait and create international headaches.
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