In 1977, then-premier Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) offered an astute analysis of the political status of Taiwan. He said: “There is no so-called Taiwan issue.”
Chiang continued: “Asia is an issue for the world. The issue with Asia is China. China’s problem is the existence of the Chinese Communist Party [CCP], which is a snake that has turned its back on the wishes of the Chinese people and causes pain for the rest of the world.”
Chiang lamented that the entire focus on the “Taiwan issue” ignores the question of China and has a direct, aggressive political implication, which is the pursuance of China’s unification with Taiwan, a nation with an entirely different social order, way of life and political system from those in communist China.
At the time he made these comments, Chiang was chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), and he gave insights into resisting unification with China.
“Year after year, time marches on, society and social trends change. The CCP never changes,” he said.
Today, despite the 46 years that have elapsed since Chiang made those comments, his perspective on the China question is even more applicable and should be borne in mind by all Taiwanese.
Chiang was right. Over the past seven decades, the Chinese unification measures toward Taiwan have consistently and intentionally focused global attention on the Taiwan issue.
Beijing keeps reiterating its stance that Taiwan is one of the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) core interests, claiming that Taiwan is a “renegade” province of China. The CCP never talks about the China question.
What the PRC did has misled the world for a lifetime.
It is not until more recently, in the past several years, when Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) showed his cards, setting the conditions for remaining in power for life and placing his ambitions of expansionism on the table, that the situation finally began to change.
Since Xi made clear his ambitions, the China question has become a major issue that democratic countries have realized they have little option but to confront. That again proves Chiang was right: The problem is caused by China, not Taiwan.
Chiang clarified why Taiwan is not the problem. He said that Taiwan has a different social order, way of life and political system from China’s. Under this premise, Taiwan takes a stand that people refuse to unify with the CCP, Chiang said.
It is the duty of all Taiwanese to fight for Taiwan’s democracy. The CCP has no right to label this duty as it pleases. If the CCP would like to equate Taiwan’s democratic transition with Taiwanese independence, then sure, the Taiwanese are all “pro-Taiwanese independence.”
Since Taiwan’s first presidential election in 1996, the CCP has disdainfully characterized Taiwanese political leaders as being pro-Taiwanese independence. All of these leaders were elected, including President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and former presidents Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
The CCP’s efforts to cast aspersions on Taiwan’s political leaders fails every time. Its efforts of intimidation at election times have been a very reliable prognosticator of how public opinion in Taiwan pushes back on the CCP’s rhetoric.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) is singing the same old tune, saying that Vice President William Lai (賴清德), the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate, and his running mate, former representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), are a pair of pro-Taiwanese independence “devils.”
The CCP was afraid that not enough attention was paid to the issue and it labeled pro-Taiwanese independence figures such as Lai and Hsiao as “troublemakers” and warmongers to “awaken” the Taiwanese electorate to the “dangers” this poses. Its intentions to manipulate the election are transparently obvious, like a clumsy child trying to hide behind a rickety fence.
The CCP cannot help but continue with the same old failed approach, and has found itself stuck in a rut. It has attempted to orchestrate the “blue-white alliance” between the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party, but the DPP still has a solid voter base.
The TAO’s denouncement of the Lai-Hsiao ticket is tantamount to a friendly reminder to voters that the DPP is neither complicit in the CCP’s attempts to secure unification nor a fifth column embedded in Taiwan by the CCP.
The DPP has set an example. Other candidates should avoid being brainwashed by the CCP; mimicking nonsense spouted by “emperor” Xi. If the KMT, the TPP and other parties in Taiwan are happy to volunteer to be used as a spokesperson of the CCP, they must prepare themselves for an electoral upset in the Jan. 13 presidential election.
Chiang concluded how to confront the CCP: Hold the line and never compromise with them on the so-called Taiwan issue.
Presidential candidates today should take Chiang’s remarks seriously.
Chiang’s stand might be criticized as not being flexible enough. Throughout history, remarkable triumphs are always made by those who stand firm and strong.
People who sit on the fence and betray their own faiths are doomed to fail.
Tzou Jiing-wen is editor-in-chief of the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper).
Translated by Hsieh Yi-ching
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