In 1967, Yale-educated academic Chen Lung-chu (陳隆志) was blacklisted after he suggested "Taiwan and China are different countries" in his book Formosa, China and the United Nations.
Thirty-five years later, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) provoked a furor of criticism both at home and abroad when he made the same declaration last week.
"Despite the passage of time, the call for Taiwanese independence is still considered a taboo in society. I see no reason why simply stating a reality can trigger such an outcry," said the 67-year-old professor, of the president's recent remarks.
"Since 1949, Taiwan has been an independent country from China. Taiwan has never been a part of China and China has never governed the land for one single day," said Chen, who is now a national policy adviser to the president.
On Tuesday, pro-Taiwan independence groups, led by Chen and others, began a vigil in Taipei to show their support for the president's "one country on each side" of the Taiwan Strait remarks.
While addressing the monthly Sun Yat-sen meeting at the Presidential Office in July, which major officials from the five branches of the government must attend, Chen drew controversy when he said the "one China" policy espoused by former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) was responsible for Taiwan's international isolation and has kept the country from joining the UN.
He claimed that Taiwan would have been able to remain in the UN had Chiang had not rejected the "two Chinas" or "one China, one Taiwan" options.
These incidents were just a part of Chen's decades-long campaign for Taiwan's statehood and its entry into the UN.
Chen started to be involved in those causes in the 1970s in the US.
Since 1997 the renowned professor of international law has continued his fight in Taiwan since returning home after living overseas for 37 years.
"If I don't do it for myself, who else will do for me? If I don't do it now, when should it be," Chen said, quoting a Jewish proverb, to explain his feelings when he decided to lead the external affairs of World United Formosans for Independence in the US (台獨聯盟).
Just like the president, Chen was born in Tainan County.
He excelled in high school and college, passing the exams to become a judge and a diplomat while he was pursuing his bachelor's degree in law at National Taiwan University.
After graduation, Chen continued his studies in the US, earning a master's degree at Northwest University and a doctoral degree in law from Yale University in 1964.
The international law specialist did not choose to immediately return to Taiwan to pursue his career as an official. Instead, he decided to stay in the US to "introduce Taiwan to the world" at a time when few knew of its existence because the Chiang regime was believed to represent China in the UN.
Chen co-authored Formosa, China and the United Nations, with Harold Lasswell, a Yale professor, in 1967. The book, which characterized Taiwan and China as two different countries, landed Chen on the blacklist and he was unable to return home for 26 years.
Chen is also the first Taiwanese academic to write a textbook that is widely used in US universities. The book, "An Introduction to Contemporary International law: A Policy-Oriented Perspective," was published in 1989.
Chen was also the first academic to argue for Taiwan's international status and Taiwan's independence from an international law perceptive.
He was listed in Who's Who in the World in 1992.
In 1998, he founded Taiwan's first private think tank, the Taiwan New Century Foundation (
Currently he is a professor of law at New York University Law School, a senior research scholar at Yale University and a member of the governing council of the International League for Human Rights under the presidential office.
He is also a political commentator for Formosa Television and a regular contributor to the opinion page of the Liberty Times.
Since 1993, Chen has been involved in each campaign for Taiwan's bid to re-enter the UN.
A devout Christian, Chen says he is not alone on this bumpy path because God is with him all the way. Without feeling downhearted, Chen compares himself to a warrior, who will fight until his last breath.
"It has only been nine years since Taiwan began to push for UN entry. But think about China, it took them 22 years to achieve that goal. We can't be defeated by temporary setbacks. We might have another 13 years to go," Chen said.
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