Tue, Dec 25, 2001 page8

• Time to wake up and smell the tea

  • By Rick Chu 朱立熙
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  After the Dec. 1 elections I went to California for eight days. What interested most of the friends I met during the trip, whether mainlander, Taiwanese or American, were the elections and the post-election changes in Taiwan.

  Having the same conversation over and over and having to reiterate my own perspective again and again was not exactly fun. Still, I wanted to give my first-hand observations to those who were not able to be in Taiwan during the campaign and elections. I also found that the following story provided a useful analogy in trying to describe the changing political climate in Taiwan.

  Back when Taiwan's "godfather of anti-communism" Ku Cheng-kang (谷正綱) was honorary chairman of the World Anti-Communism League, it used to invite anti-communism freedom fighters from all over the world to an annual conference in Taiwan. The conferences were always held in the Sun Yat-sen Hall (中山樓) on Yangmingshan on Jan. 23. The discussions always focused on how to combat communism. The attendees would always conclude their meeting by declaring, "A unanimous decision is hereby reached. We will continue to oppose communism until the end."

  I used this story to make fun of a phenomenon that can be summed up as birds of a feather flock together, or to use a Chinese saying, "a wedding between blood relatives." Why did I repeatedly tell this story to mainlanders now residing in California? It is because they are too homogeneous, just like all those anti-communist freedom fighters.

  And just like the KMT, these mainlander "Taiwan expatriates" are all just "drifters," who treated Taiwan as a transit lounge. They all shouted "retake the mainland" along with the KMT, but they now look forward to the day when Beijing completes the "great Chinese unification."

  These people all hate former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝). They like President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) even less, some to the point of near madness.

  Almost every mainlander I encountered on my trip found the DPP's election success unbelievable and unacceptable. Their anti-Taiwan sentiment is evident in the biased letters to the editor published in the pro-unification newspaper World Journal (世界日報).

  To these expatriates, the localization path that emerged during Lee's 12 years in power, during which the ROC and the KMT were "Taiwanized," was the equivalent of Taiwan independence. They also believe that this localization path caused the KMT's defeat in last year's presidential election.

  I told them: "You distance yourselves from Taiwan and repeat the same anti-Lee, anti-Chen and even anti-Taiwan conversations everyday. Of course, your conclusion is going to be `continue opposition till the end.'"

  These people can come up with hundreds, even thousands, of reasons for loathing Lee and Chen. Having resided abroad for so long, they are completely out of touch with the changes that have taken place in Taiwan. They can do nothing to influence events in Taiwan, so they are reduced to emotional outbursts that leave them feeling even more alienated.

  I tried to tell them that the DPP's electoral success was inevitable -- and that the DPP's share of votes will increase in the future. This is a natural result of the ethnic structure and mainstream popular will in Taiwan. Sooner or later, all parties will fall into two camps -- "Taiwanese" or "mainlander." If this month's elections results were unacceptable to these expatriates, they will continue to be disappointed in the future. After all, mainlanders make up only 13 percent of the population.

  The expatriates residing in California find it completely unacceptable that the main- landers who came to Taiwan with the KMT would lose power after ruling the country for 51 years. Even though these expatriates live in the US and are used to the transfer of power between parties there, they cannot accept the same thing happening in Taiwan. They cannot accept the peaceful and democratic transfer of power to ethnic Taiwanese, who constitute a majority of the population.

  Why? Who knows? Maybe their sense of superiority about being mainlanders is simply too great.

  These expatriates would probably never think, much less admit, that because mainlanders are a minority in Taiwan, the undemocratic system under which the KMT ruled made Taiwan an international orphan, akin to South Africa's apartheid regime. The fact that an alien regime which essentially parachuted into Taiwan was able to rule for more than 50 years was almost miraculous.

  After listening to my political analysis, my friends had little to say except to remind me, rather wishfully, "Taiwanese cannot be so short-sighted to completely disregard the international environment."

  While they may be right on this point, Taiwan is only at the toddler stage of democratic development. If it does not root democracy firmly into its political system, it may follow the footsteps of South Korea. While President Kim Dae-jung may have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to reconcile the two Koreas, his reputation is at rock-bottom domestically, making it almost impossible for him to implement policy. So how well does his north-south reconciliation drive serve the interests of his country and people?

  I have no intention of belittling mainlanders residing in Taiwan or abroad out of a sense of ethnic superiority because ethnic Taiwanese have come to power. Just the opposite.

  I hope that third-generation mainlanders will be able to demonstrate their identification with Taiwan through action. I hope they do not treat Taiwan as a way station or as a land that should remain subject to the KMT's imperial rule, the way their parents and grandparents have. Only through participation in politics and breaking through ethnic barriers can mainlanders put down their own roots in this land. They must learn to blend in with this land if they are to find a true home here.

  I long for the day when mainlander candidates are able to express their views in fluent Hokkinese because they use it as part of their everyday life -- not because they learned the language to increase their election chances the way that People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) and Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) have done. Ethnic Taiwanese are skeptical about Soong and Ma because neither man spoke Hokkinese until it became politically advantageous to do so. After all, language is the most rudimentary form of identification. Does either man truly identify with Taiwan?

  While the results of the Dec. 1 elections surprised Beijing and mainlander expatriates, no one can deny that the people of Taiwan have made their opinion heard. I do understand the sense of loss felt by mainlanders. But mainlanders inside and outside Taiwan should now focus on the process of finding political identification, putting down roots in Taiwan and integrating into society here, and fighting side-by-side with the ethnic Taiwanese.

  If the mainlanders are unable to discard their "drifter mentality," they will never identify with any place, be it Taiwan or the US. They will forever remain rootless strangers.

  Rick Chu is the editor in chief of the Taipei Times.
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