In the minds of some Americans, Taiwan used to be a problem for US foreign policy. They held this belief because China characterized Taiwan as a problem. Some US scholars saw Taiwan as a problem because they disliked the KMT's dictatorial rule. They believed that the KMT's claim that it represented all of China only caused trouble.
With the establishment of a true multi-party democracy in Taiwan, such misconceptions should come to an end. In fact, in a major policy speech on Asia on June 10, US Secretary of State Colin Powell clearly rejected such characterizations, saying, "Taiwan not a problem, but a success story. Taiwan has become a resilient economy, a vibrant democracy and a generous contributor to the international community."
His comments were an impor-tant step forward, for the US is beginning to give China and Taiwan a balanced and even-handed treatment.
The irony was that while Powell praised China and Tai-wan for "doing pretty well" in trying to narrow their differences, KMT leaders are complaining that the DPP government is moving toward Taiwan's independence, which, according to them, could cause trouble for the US. Just like China, they describe Taiwan's democracy and emerging nationalism as indicative of separatism and Taiwan independence.
While in the US, KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
Obviously, Lien is trying to scare and mislead public opinion in the US for his own partisan interests. If China refuses to implement democratic reforms and respect the right of the people in Taiwan to self-determination, it is Beijing's problem, not Taiwan's.
Some analysts suggested that President George W. Bush's ad-ministration should change its Taiwan policy, aligning more closely with Taipei. But the ad-ministration has stuck to its original policy. In a sense the Bush administration is right. It is shifting its policy back to the original design of Sino-American policy in the 1970s.
According to a declassified secret memorandum from then secretary of state William Rogers to president Richard M. Nixon in February 1972, right before Nix-on's trip to China, the State Department proposed a "policy of peaceful settlement" on the future of Taiwan. The thrust of the proposal was insisting that any agree-ment on the future status of Tai-wan be a peaceful one that reflects the will of the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. The memo also suggested some steps to normalize relations with Beijing while pointing to the importance of keeping Taiwan's future open.
The department's China hands theorized in the proposal that "the time may come when either Taiwan's existence as a separate entity will be recognized as a fait accompli by the PRC, or the island undergoes some form of peaceful integration with the PRC."
While it is true that the US has assured Beijing that it does not support "two Chinas," "one China, one Taiwan" or "an independent Taiwan," it is also true that it has continued to insist that the resolution of differences should be by peaceful means with the consent of the people of Taiwan.
Therefore, Taipei should welcome Powell's calling Taiwan a success story, not a problem. It is odd that Lien tried to argue to the contrary and thereby demean Taiwan's democracy.
James Wang is a Washington-based journalist.
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