Taiwan

For centuries, Taiwan has been ruled by alien regimes. Modern Taiwanese

history is a chronicle of the Taiwanese' struggles against oppression and

fight for independent survival. Since 1945, Taiwan under the Kuomintang

(KMT) regime has been subject to the threat of China's invasion. Even

though recently the tensions across the Straits of Taiwan has loosened

gradually, to Taiwanese, the unification policy stressed by both the KMT

regime and the Chinese government still poses a grave danger of a forced

and forcible merger with China.

On August 31, 1993, the People's Republic of China issued a

document titled, "The Taiwan Question and the Reunification of China."

Circulating in seven languages, this diplomatic white paper manifested its

intent and ambition of annexing Taiwan through its distortion of history,

misconstruction of international law and treaties, and disregard for the

will and welfare of the Taiwanese. Though less dogmatic and more pragmatic

than before, the KMT's response remains ambiguous and problematic: the KMT

still insists that the Communist regime cannot legitimately represent

China, while emphasizing its own capability of resolving this "Chinese

problem" eventually. Under such circumstances, we think it necessary to

explicate our point of view from the perspective of the Taiwanese.

China released a paper that states that "Peaceful Unification" and

"One Country, Two Systems" are the basic principles of its Taiwan policy.

The paper lists four guidelines: one China, coexistence of two systems,

extensive autonomy, and peaceful negotiation. China warns that the Taiwan

question is a purely domestic issue and thus to be solved under the

premise of "One China." It further pronounces that peaceful unification is

a fixed policy of the Chinese government. However, this government will

reserve the right to take all action necessary, including military action,

to protect its territorial integrity and governing authority. As a note

directed at foreign states, the paper delivers its intention to keep out

foreign intervention. "The Chinese government is not obliged to any

foreign country and makes no promise whatsoever."

In our opinion, the Chinese assumption and interpretation of the

Taiwan issue are extremely absurd. Taiwan by no means is a part of the

People's Republic of China, whether from the perspective of history,

international law, or reality. This being the case, what position does the

PRC have to formulate the "peaceful unification, one China" policy which

aims at devouring Taiwan? China's chauvinistic ambitions are clearly

manifested in light of this.

The paper further contends that the status quo, i.e. separation,

is most unfortunate to the Chinese people; every Chinese yearns for this

grievous separation to end. This is one-sided and biased. The Chinese

administration should know better that its adversary is the KMT, not the

Taiwanese. If it were not for the KMT's defeat by the communists, Taiwan

would not have been subjugated to the KMT's reign of terror for over forty

years - most unfortunate to the Taiwanese. Furthermore, if China takes

notice of the humiliation the Taiwanese feel under the KMT's colonial

rule, it should know that the Taiwanese will not allow anything similar to

happen again: not another alien Chinese regime. Thus, what the paper

claims, that "Taiwanese pervasively desire for unification" and that "the

majority of powerful political figures in Taiwan hold the belief in

unification,"