Since President Lee Teng-hui's (李登輝) July speech concerning the "special state-to-state" relationship between Beijing and Taipei, the Chinese government has responded with missile tests, an announcement of its possession of neutron bombs and a threat to Taiwan and the international community that China is ready to fight at all costs.
Despite the enormous Chinese population of 1.3 billion, the Chinese people as a whole are not a solid entity. They do not have an independent self-awareness, with no civic rights, serving only as "subjects" under a one-party dictatorship.
Much like the old days when the Ching dynasty gave away Taiwan to Japan and Hong Kong to Britain, the Communist Party, which claimed itself the representative of the entire Chinese people, has let Outer Mongolia become a Soviet satellite, and has presented as gifts to the USSR vast chunks of Chinese territory.
None of these have been agreed to by the Chinese people, let alone by any meaningful ratification meetings or resolution through people's representatives.
In recent years, the Chinese people have voiced their protest against the Japanese government, demanding the Japanese apologize and compensate for war atrocities committed in China during WWII.
They have also appealed to their fellow countrymen to protect the disputed territory of Diaoyu (3?膝x, Senkeku) Island. But all these petitions have met with cruel suppression by the Chinese government.
Chinese citizens have no right to participate in their own country's political and structural discourse. Therefore, views manufactured by the Communist Party's propaganda machine can never represent the true opinion of those politically powerless millions.
It's ironic that when President Lee announced his "special state-to-state" relationship, Jiang Zemin (
It has evolved through the long annals of history to become the vast territory it is today. This long process was replete with countless disunity, conquests, wars, and massacres. Long division shall be terminated by long unity, which in turn shall be terminated by long division. Such is the cycle and logic of Chinese history.
The key is to become part of the historical flow and follow the current. As Dr. Sun Yat-sen (
Looking back, we should realize that if Taiwan were "liberated" by the Communist Party in 1949, we would not have witnessed today's "Taiwan miracle," nor would there have been large-scale financial investment from Taiwan since the reform started.
People on the mainland simply would not have been able to enjoy melodious Taiwanese campus songs and the exquisite Taiwanese cuisine.
Looking to the future, we should see that when China completes its own social transformation and becomes a powerful democracy like -- or even better than -- the United States, it will be no longer necessary to worry about whether Taiwan should be reunited with the mainland.
If the Chinese leaders really have a strategic vision, they should realize that the current tactic of playing tough with Lee Teng-hui in order to divert China's domestic crisis is a bad choice.
The better alternative is to be cool-headed and resolute to solve the key problem in China, which is to give the governing power to the people and carry out true democracy. This will generate peaceful competition across the Taiwan Strait.
In the end, whether divided or unified, the two sides will be both members of the global village. Division and unity are just a transient stage of social development unique to circumstances.
Facing the incoming new millennium, we should have the wisdom to transcend the bloody old paradigm of forced unification.
When leaders from both sides of the Strait negotiate in good faith on a state-to-state basis, China and Taiwan shall be able to reach agreement and stride toward unification, toward a "grand peace," just like the European Union.
Zhang Weiguo is a former lawyer in Shanghai and Beijing Bureau Chief of the World Economic Herald. He is now a visiting scholar at the Graduate School of Journalism, UC Berkeley and an independent journalist.
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