Speaking at a forum on cross-strait issues held in China on Thursday, former vice chairman of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS, 海協會), Tang Shubei (唐樹備) said that under the premise of the `one country, two systems,' Taiwan can enjoy treatment in accordance with the model of Hong Kong's return to the motherland -- i.e. playing at election politics and playing the stock market. But Taiwanese who hear such nonsense won't be angered. Tang's words only have the effect of reminding us that Taiwan is better off steering as far away from China as possible. How unfortunate it would be to accept the proposal of such an idiot official.
Tang is a veteran of China's Taiwan-affairs bureaucracy and has visited Taiwan. But his understanding of Taiwan remains shallow. Clearly, he doesn't see Taiwan's social diversity. He still thinks that apart from electoral politics, Taiwanese only care about getting rich in the stock market and that nothing else exists for them. This seems to show that the gulf in thinking between Taiwanese and Chinese is getting harder to bridge. Tang certainly has a way of using words to highlight his own ignorance.
On the other hand, people who love Hong Kong would be deeply saddened to hear Tang's reiteration of the "dance as usual, horse-racing as usual" promises made by China before the 1997 takeover. Tang's remarks fully reflect the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) leadership's ignorance of the reasons why such remarks hurt knowledgeable Hong Kongers. Ballrooms and racetracks were merely places where Hong Kongers could intoxicate themselves while under British colonial rule. They are merely superficial phenomena and by no means realistic portraits of Hong Kong society.
For Hong Kong intellectuals, the unification slogans brought up by Beijing catered to the vulgar taste of Hong Kong's tycoons and were insulting. It was almost like saying most Hong Kongers were living befuddled lives.
Today, Tang has painted such crude unification ploys as being effective in Hong Kong. Obviously, the Communist Party has lost its ability to soul-search and can't distinguish justice from evil.
According to Tang's logic, China will guarantee that the people of Taiwan can continue to hold their elections and play the stock market under Chinese rule. But these activities have long been legal in Taiwan. Taiwan does not need to unify with China to be able to enjoy this "fun." So why should it unify with China? Tang's offers are therefore not the least bit attractive.
If Beijing wants to cheat the people of Taiwan, it will have to offer some real incentives. UN membership, for example, might move some people's hearts. If the Communist Party simply tries to dangle a carrot that the Taiwanese already have in the hopes of encouraging them to surrender, that is simply self-deception.
The Chinese leadership several years ago said publicly that vice president would be the highest position a Taiwanese could occupy in a post-unification China, vice chairman being the highest in a post-unification Communist Party. We have not seen any further explanation from Beijing on why a Taiwanese person could not become president or CCP chairman. Such open discrimination, stupid in the extreme, came from the mouths of high-level CCP officials.
Taiwanese with any wisdom would give someone like Tang a wide berth so as not to let themselves be infuriated and their health be damaged by his flummery.
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