The White House Web site published an official statement of US President George W. Bush's congratulation to Ma and the people of Taiwan last Saturday (www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/03/20080322-4. html).
Bush praises Taiwan as a beacon of democracy for Asia and the world. He is confident that the election and the democratic process it represents will advance Taiwan as a prosperous, secure and well-governed society. He also reaffirms the maintenance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the welfare of the people in Taiwan remain of profound importance to the US.
Ma shared his feelings with his supporters after reading Bush's congratulatory statement, saying he was so touched that tears welled in his eyes. Ma has been elected as president of the Republic of China (ROC). He never admitted campaigning to be president of Taiwan. He pledges allegiance only to the Constitution of the ROC, whose territory still includes not only everything claimed by the People's Republic of China (PRC), but also Mongolia.
Taiwan was ceded to Japan by the Qing emperor in the treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895. Chiang Kai-shek (
Japan renounced all right, title and claim to Formosa and the Pescadores in the San Francisco Peace Treaty in 1951 after World War II. Military occupation does not transfer territorial sovereignty. Chiang and the ROC never owned the territorial sovereignty over Taiwan. As a matter of fact, the ROC has been an exiled government since 1949. On Aug. 30 last year, US National Security Council Senior Director for Asian Affairs Dennis Wilder said: "Taiwan, or the Republic of China, is not at this point a state in the international community.
To Ma, Taiwan has never been a country. His campaign policy is to unify with China one day. So, what do you think Ma's tears are for? Is he happy for his dream that the ROC will be unified with the PRC soon? Is he sad to be mistakenly considered the president of Taiwan by Bush?
Or does he have mixed feelings that Taiwan/the ROC is now recognized by Bush as a nation?
John Hsieh
Hayward, California
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