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
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under