Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰), chanting "peace, striving and saving China," the last words of his party's founder Sun Yat-sen (孫中山), in Nanjing yesterday, nevertheless could not specify which China he encouraged his listeners to save.
Seen as a brave attempt to appease the anger and concerns of pro-independence Taiwanese that he may sell out Taiwan during his China trip, Lien proclaimed the Republic of China (ROC), Taiwan's official name, at Sun's hilltop tomb yesterday, in a land whose government does not recognize the existence of the ROC.
"Many people challenged Lien to talk about the ROC in front of Chinese President Hu Jintao (
Lien intended to bring home to the Chinese communists the reality that although Sun's dream to unify China has not been realized, the ROC he founded still stands, said Alexander Huang (
Lien's speech in Nanjing, Huang added, addressed the biggest problem in Beijing's policy toward Taiwan, which is that leaders in Beijing never positively face the reality of the ROC's existence.
However, despite manifesting his desire for the Chinese communists to recognize the ROC, Lien avoided giving a clear definition of the current status of the ROC.
Sun, Lien said in his speech, founded "the first democratic republic in Asia, the ROC."
The KMT, which retreated to Taiwan in 1949 and continued the history of the ROC here, cited Sun's will to save China yesterday.
But which China does Lien want to save? The ROC or the People's Republic of China (PRC)? Or does Lien perhaps not consider it important to make a distinction between the two, because both contain the word "China" in their official national titles?
When Sun uttered "save China" on his deathbed in 1925, he probably was not thinking about Taiwan, then a Japanese colony.
Lien should have known as he eagerly chanted "save China" 80 years after Sun's death, that the slogan demands a clarification of what the "China" is.
It is understandable Lien does not want to offend his hosts in China, who have embraced and welcomed him in a grand manner.
"Lien remained ambiguous about the cross-strait status quo and did not make it clear that the two sides are now ruled by different governments," said Lo Chih-cheng (
Yet the KMT is not alone in remembering Sun's last words. The very words, "peace, striving and saving China," appear on the Web site of the Office of the President in Taiwan. The Web page introducing Sun says that, holding his belief to strive for peace and save China, he arrived at Peking to hold talks with the northern regional leaders on the unification of China by peaceful means in 1924, four months before his death.
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