The Presidential Office recently pulled down a signboard in front of its plaza as a precaution against typhoon Bilis, now approaching Taiwan. The signboard read, "Free, democratic and unified China" (
After 50 years of struggle and the historic transition of power, the slogans of a "free, democratic and unified China" sway ever so precariously in the wind.
The Taiwan government has long viewed unification with China as the centerpiece of cross-strait relations -- from unification by force as championed by the Chiang dynasty under the banner "Reconquer the mainland and unify China" (
Despite the change in means, the goal of unification remained a constant under the KMT -- until Lee uttered his "special state-to-state relations" dictum in July of last year, effectively indicating that the path to unification had ended. Lee finally came to realize that advocating unification before Beijing changed its attitude would lead nowhere.
Chen, like Lee, is a popularly elected, ethnic Hokkien-Taiwanese president, acutely sensitive to public opinion. Even though a portion of Taiwanese support unification, it was Chen and the pro-independence DPP that won the presidential election. This indicates that public opinion differs from current policy. With public opinion excluded from its content, the guidelines have become a black hole in Taiwan's democracy. They should be amended as soon as possible so that government policy can accurately reflect public opinion on Taiwan's future.
Over the past 10 years, the government's China policy has followed the plan set out in the guidelines, going phase by phase from short-term civic exchanges to medium-term building of mutual trust to long-term negotiations and eventual unification. Despite all the meticulous planning, it has become clear after years of promotion that the guidelines are mere wishful thinking. Beijing's attitude toward Taiwan has not changed. No progress is being made in cross-strait relations. In fact, Taiwan has created an obstacle for itself by depending on Beijing's goodwill for progress.
There is strong consensus in Taiwan for lifting restrictions on direct links with China. However, direct links are a medium-term goal, which must come after China begins to show goodwill.
Restricted by the guidelines, Taiwan is now unable to take the initiative of lifting the restrictions or play a leading role in cross-strait relations.
This scenario was not in the minds of those who formulated the guidelines a decade ago. After Taiwan and China both enter the WTO, the Taiwan government will have to come up with more rhetoric to explain the contradictions that will arise.
For both democracy and policy considerations, the guidelines definitely need an overhaul. Perhaps some will say that changing the guidelines will make the Beijing authorities unhappy and once again aggravate cross-strait tensions. However, the guidelines have been around for the past 10 years and yet cross-strait relations have not been the smoother for them.
Now that Beijing's Taiwan policy is also becoming geared toward winning popular support of Taiwanese, we should let cross-strait policy on both sides of the Strait fall back on the opinion of the Taiwan people.
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