During his speech on Thursday last week to mark the centenary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), the CCP’s general secretary, called for “resolute action to utterly defeat any attempt toward Taiwan independence.”
The CCP leaders must have forgotten that their party sent a representative to the 1928 founding conference of the Taiwanese Communist Party, which called for the establishment of a “Republic of Taiwan,” and that CCP chairman Mao Zedong (毛澤東) made statements in support of Taiwan independence.
The CCP no longer acknowledges this part of its history and now has crushing Taiwan independence on its agenda.
Since 1949, when the CCP established the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and drove the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to Taiwan, two separate political entities have formed on each side of the Taiwan Strait.
The PRC has never ruled Taiwan, which has been de facto independent from Beijing for more than 70 years. During that time, Taiwan has become a democracy, as acknowledged around the world.
It was rated 94 percent free in this year’s Freedom House ranking.
From the point of view of international law, the post-World War II international order was settled through the 1951 Treaty of San Francisco, which did not award Beijing sovereignty over Taiwan. So what basis does China have for wanting to crush Taiwan independence?
It is not impossible for Taiwan to merge with China — if Taiwanese want to. However, more than 70 percent of Taiwanese do not want to unify with China, and less than 10 percent are strongly in favor of it. It is no surprise that people who enjoy 94 percent freedom do not want to be ruled by a country that is only 9 percent free.
Crushing Taiwan independence would actually be simple. No need to harass Taiwan with warplanes, threaten it with missiles or to sail warships around it. China should evaluate how many Taiwanese hearts and minds its military posturing has won over to the so-called motherland.
The way to crush Taiwan independence can be summed up in one word: democratization — but how can China democratize? It could abandon one-party dictatorship, lift restrictions on news reporting, and respect human rights by allowing freedom of assembly and religion, as well as freedom of speech with regard to publication and teaching. It could also release political prisoners — including Taiwanese rights advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲) — and institute separation of powers, independence of the judiciary and nationalization of the military.
Taiwanese demanded all these things from the KMT in the past.
Also, China should cease the genocide of Uighurs and close the concentration camps in Xinjiang — or “vocational training institutions,” as China calls them.
It should respect national self-determination for Tibet and East Turkestan (Xinjiang).
If China can democratize in these ways and eventually reach 94 percent freedom, Taiwanese might have peace of mind about unifying with China. Crushing Taiwan independence would then be a realistic proposition.
What did you say, China? You say you are the “most democratic country in the world?”
How come your “democracy” is so different from the international standard? Every wheel in the world is round, so why do you call something a wheel when it is square?
As long as you and Taiwan have such different definitions of democracy, how can the two countries possibly unite?
Lee Hsiao-feng is an honorary professor at National Taipei University of Education.
Translated by Julian Clegg
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