Taiwan and Tibet have received their fair share of international news coverage over the past month or so, with Tibet commemorating the 47th anniversary of its uprising against China and the ongoing dialogue between Beijing and the Dalai Lama's representatives. Taiwan has been in the headlines because of the hullabaloo over the mothballing of the National Unification Council, the anniversary of the enactment of China's "Anti-Secession" Law as well as trips to the US by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou's (
And although Taiwan and Tibet may appear unconnected at first glance to many people, the fate of these two may be more entwined than most would like to believe.
Just before the anniversary of the Tibetan uprising and prior to the meeting of China's parliament earlier last month, one brave young man, Wangpo Tethong, took it upon himself to unfurl a banner in Beijing's Tiananmen Square protesting China's brutal 56-year long occupation of Tibet. Although the boldness of this solo protest was commendable, one couldn't help but notice that in the background of the photo of this one-man protest, situated in front of the Revolutionary History Museum, was a large electronic clock counting down the years, months, days, hours, minutes and seconds until the beginning of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
This was strikingly similar to a clock placed in exactly the same location upon a visit to Tiananmen in 1997, only that clock was counting down the years, months, days, hours, minutes and seconds until the recovery of Macau in 1999. One can only assume that prior to the Macau clock, there was also an identical monolith counting down the time to the repossession of Hong Kong in 1997.
And this begs the questions: Why is the Chinese government so obsessed with displaying these countdowns, and what is the purpose of such behavior?
The obvious rationale is that these events appeal to the new sense of ultra-nationalism that China has cultivated among its youth over the last few years: Namely, that China is on the rise and nothing can stop it from regaining its number one position in the world order, and these events are part of the path to it regaining its destiny.
Another reason is surely that notice of these events is prominently displayed in the centerpiece square for the masses of poor farmers who still make the pilgrimage to the capital from the nether regions to pay homage and view the pickled remains of Mao Zedong (
Another motive, and the probable explanation behind the Hong Kong and Macau clocks, would be to demonstrate to the population that their honorable leadership is busy completing the task of unifying all the territory that was taken away during the 19th century -- China's "century of humiliation" -- and that this will eventually lead to the complete reunification of the great "motherland."
The latest timepiece demonstrates to the people that China has finally stepped onto the world stage and now ranks among the great powers, as it has the resources and capability to stage the world's greatest sporting event, the Olympic Games.
If one does the math, these countdown clocks have been a pretty much permanent fixture in Tiananmen Square over the last 10 years or so. So, to avoid disappointing the masses after its hopefully successful hosting of the 2008 Olympics, the Chinese government is going to have to come up with yet another event for them to look forward to.
Bear in mind that 2008 is also the year of the next presidential election in Taiwan and if we are to believe everything written by the local pro-unification media and clueless international reportage then the KMT chairman, Taipei mayor and everybody's golden boy Ma already has one foot in the newly christened presidential palace.
During his recent tour of the US, Ma introduced the five "dos," his recipe for cross-strait harmony and probably the keystone of his policy platform, should he be chosen to represent the pan-blues in the presidential vote.
One of the "five dos" states that Ma will seek to sign a 30, 40 or 50-year-long peace accord with China, which would presumably lay the foundation for the eventual unification of Taiwan and China -- his and the KMT's stated aim.
The logic behind this accord being that by the end of this period everything across the other side of the Taiwan Strait will be hunky dory. The evil autocratic regime that currently prevails there will have had a change of heart and transformed itself into a full liberal democracy, the massive income gap between rich and poor will have evaporated into thin air and the 800 or so missiles currently pointing at Taiwan will be retrained on Japan.
Sounds great in theory, but it overlooks one key point: that Beijing would never consider signing such an accord with Taiwan if there were no prize to be gained at the end. That prize is the final piece in the great "motherland unification jigsaw," which means that Taiwan would be signing away its sovereignty.
Ma is naive in the extreme if he believes anything less. So if he wins the presidential election in 2008, the people of China and Taiwan can look forward to the erection of yet another countdown clock in Tiananmen Square. Only the display on this one would read "Countdown to the recovery of Taiwan."
Whether the clock starts counting down from 30, 40 or 50 years, it would signify one thing, that the Taiwanese people have betrayed the sacrifices made by those who fought for years to win this nation its hard-earned democracy and have given up, leaving Taiwan to become just another Tibet.
Richard Hazeldine is a writer based in Taipei.
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