A year to end disputes
As we usher in 2018, we are presented with the question: What is the best plan for this year?
US President Donald Trump honored his fans and critics in a very specific tweet. While he has many supporters who appreciate his keeping his promises to promote the economy and create jobs for Americans, he must also face the challenges of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Kim said: “The United States should know that the button for nuclear weapons is on my table, and the entire US mainland is within our nuclear strike range. This year, we should focus on mass-producing nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles for operational deployment. These weapons will be used only if our security is threatened.”
Kim poses a tremendous threat to the US and the region.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) vowed that China would resolutely carry out reform this year: “We will take the opportunity of celebrating the 40th anniversary of reform and opening up in 2018 to further carry out reform... In only three more years, by the year 2020, to end poverty in China, those rural residents who are currently living in conditions of extreme poverty should be lifted above the poverty line.”
After 40 years of opening up and reform, Chinese are richer than before and the nation is significant and powerful on the international stage.
However, are Chinese better off than before? The nation is tightly controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. There is no freedom of speech, there are no free elections and there is no private ownership of property. It is a one-party state and not a people’s republic.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said China’s attempt to expand militarily in the region is increasingly obvious, that Taiwan needs to stand up for its sovereignty and that it wants to protect regional peace, stability and prosperity.
This is not just a problem facing Taiwan, but one that faces countries throughout the region.
Tsai nailed down the difficulty facing Taiwan and its sovereignty.
However, who controls Taiwan’s sovereignty today? The Republic of China (ROC)? Why is it not indicated in the ROC Constitution? It only shows the sovereignty of Mongolia and China, not Taiwan.
Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and his followers fled to Taiwan in 1949, regained power, restored the ROC on Taiwan and used it to compete against China and challenge it — confusing the world for a while before being rejected by UN Resolution 2758 on Oct. 25, 1971.
Almost no one around the world — except for people in Taiwan — recognizes the ROC as having sovereign control of Taiwan. Nonetheless, there are flag-raising ceremonies in Taiwan and at Taipei Economic and Cultural Office locations every year on Jan. 1 — even if American Institute in Taiwan officials officially rejected it at the Twin Oaks Estate on Jan. 1, 2015.
Whenever the ROC national flag is raised, China claims that the ROC belongs to “one China” and that it owns Taiwan. This unsettling drama has been going on for years, and no one knows when it will end.
Hopefully, in the year to come, time will tell us what the ROC represents: Taiwan or China.
If it is Taiwan, why not name the nation “Taiwan?” If it is China, then how should the People’s Republic of China be dealt with? Should it be defeated or surrendered to?
Next year, time may have settled the disputes between North Korea and the US, as well as those between China and Taiwan.
John Hsieh
Hayward, California
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