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SPEAKING
FREELY
Getting in on the
Taiwan-China act
By Henry
Ting
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times
Online feature that allows guest writers to have
their say. Please click here
if you are interested in
contributing.
Kuomintang (KMT)
chairman Lien Chan surprised everybody in Taiwan
and the world with his bold journey for peace in
China. His stroke of political brilliance to
initiate the dialogue between China and Taiwan has
become a critical turning point for the future of
China.
Lien's declaration of "we can grasp the
opportunity of the future of China" has been widely
reported in the world press as a brave breakthrough
move. But his peace initiative for a unified
Chinese nation will have to wait for the blessings
from all political persuasions. He asks all
Chinese people from both sides of the Taiwan
Strait "to join in their discussions on issues
concerning the interests of the people across the
Taiwan Strait". His candid talk with the leader of
the Communist Party of China Hu Jintao will
indeed be recorded as a historical meeting if it
turns out to be the watershed for an enduring
multi-party political infrastructure in China.
By emphasizing a consensus of opposing
"Taiwan independence" with Hu, Lien has not only
enunciated his belief in a dynamic status quo in
the Taiwan Strait to promote mutual integration in
economics and political exchanges, but also
planted the seed for an advantage in the next
general election for the KMT in Taiwan at 2008.
Witnessing all the fanfare of
Lien's success trip in China, President Chen Shui Bian
in Taiwan has been forced to do some
soul-searching for his governing Democratic Progressive
Party抯 response. Chen understands a lame duck
stalemate in the Taiwan Strait or plunging into a
steady-fast independent movement for Taiwan will
go nowhere for his political legacy. As a smart
politician and life-long fighter for freedom and
equality in Taiwan for the past 40 years, Chen
probably has to expand his idea of "one China, one
system" to a higher level. Chen should have made
his agenda known to the world that China and
Taiwan reunification will surely be a possibility
but will be subjected to the Beijing government's
acquiescence to a multi-lateral system of
democracy as practiced now in Taiwan. Chen should
stand firm on his demand that without that promise
and process, people of Taiwan will never give up
the claim for its own sovereignty and
independence.
By getting Hu to agree
on inviting all walks of life to join in
the discussion on issues, Lien already made his
wish public in his speech at Beijing University. He
has conveyed his conviction to promote democracy
and liberalism in China in line with the call from the
students for democracy and science on May 4 almost
100 years ago. As a political scientist, Lien is
convinced that an authoritarian regime will never
be able to govern a free and prosperous society.
Hopefully Lien will be able to exercise his
influence when he returns back to Taiwan to engage
all walks of life and convince the wider population
that a peaceful relationship with China is indispensable to
Taiwan's prosperity and stability. During
this campaign process he probably has
to face up to challenges from the independence-minded
factions in Taiwan. Lien will have
to persuade them to understand that antagonism
against China is destined to fail and to
harm the long-term interest of Taiwanese people.
Lien does not have to go too far when the examples
of Puerto Rico, a United States' territory
in the Caribbean, and Quebec, a province in
Canada, with great differences in culture and
language background, have both rejected the
independence referendum numerous time just for the
sake of economic privileges alone. They knew that
a better life and security are more important to
their daily life than following the empty words of
a few ambitious politicians.
While the Taiwan administration under Chen is slow
to realize that the United States and Japan,
the primary sources for their cause of
separation from China, owe their economical
revitalization to China's growing market and industrialization. The
economically slumping Japan has just recovered recently due to
Chinese economic growth. And the iconic US
corporations such as IBM and General Motors are
banking their revivals on close business
cooperation with China. Their leaders know better
than to kill the goose who is laying the golden
eggs for their own survival. Their national
interests are definitely not for a confrontation
against China.
In
these scenarios, Taiwan has much more to gain to have
closer economic integration with China for now and in
the future. With advanced technology and a free
market system in place, Taiwan's businesses will benefit
enormously by their investment and market
activities in mainland China. It is vital for the
Taiwan industries to have an advantage in China to
have a winning chance in competition with South
Korea and Japan for the economic upper-hand. With
a similar ethnic and cultural background,
Taiwan should be in the best position to profit
from the fast-expanding Chinese economy.
It is abundantly clear that when an
overwhelming and instantaneous welcome is given to
Lien and his entourages by ordinary people in
China, they are telling the world that they need
reforms and changes. Empty promises and political
intimidation are not enough for the general
population anymore. They are looking for
opportunity to have a prosperous life under the
principles of freedom and equality.
The
Beijing government should pay special attention to
Lien and James Soong's visits for peace (Soon is
chairman of the People First Party, PFP). And
pledge their willingness to a smooth transitional
timetable of reunification with Taiwan. In order
to accomplish their most important goal, the
Chinese Communist Party and its leader Hu Jintao
should let the world be informed that they will
take immediate steps to show that China is a
peaceful nation with no ambition and agenda for
military expansion. And China will step up
concrete plans to facilitate gradual
transformation to attend the rules of
democratization in China. Taiwan's success story
in a democratic society can be a perfect example
to China that the best way to limit government
corruption and inefficiency is to eliminate a
rigid authoritarian political system.
As
modern history shows, the communist parties in
Russia and other Eastern European nations are both
doing pretty well in maintaining their
constituencies and political influence. The
prospect of a communist party being a significant
force in China politics in the future is a
reasonable assumption. A scheduled plan for a
general plebiscite at all levels of government for
all political parties and groups in China and
Taiwan can be implanted as soon as both sides of
the Taiwan Strait can reach an agreement of peace and
cooperation.
US Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice has enunciated repeatedly
that the US's national interest in Pacific Asia is
to seek a continuously expanding market economy in
China. Her vision for America is to seek a
friendly partner in China in trade and investment
first, then extending to political liberalization.
Washington never has had the appetite to confront
China militarily in that part of world for the
next decades when US diplomatic priorities are
involved in Middle East terrorism and the North
Korea nuclear threat.
Rice mapped out a
clear picture of US resolution for the future to
maintain peace and cooperation in the Taiwan
Strait until a political settlement on democratic
terms is available in China; US officials have
sent numerous messages to the Taiwan government
that any unilateral moves to disrupt the status
quo will not be tolerated.
It will take a
great deal of courage for the leaders both in
China and Taiwan to resist the conservative and
radical elements in their own parties who are
against any changes. Both Hu and Chen should take
advantage of their political positions to advance
permanent change in Chinese history. Sometimes a
real political leader has to lead with his own
wisdom for the well-being of the people in China
and Taiwan. Both of them will definitely encounter
obstacles from the die-hard factions in their
parties. But if they want to go the route of some
of the most influential political figures in history,
they will understand why those leaders like
Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D Roosevelt, Mikhail
Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin had to take risks to
stick to their convictions and to stand up to the
challenges for the sake of their historical
legacies.
Hopefully Soong of
the PFP will carry President Chen's tacit blessing
on his peace-bridging mission. Soong should
make it crystal clear to Hu that the majority
of people in Taiwan are for a peaceful and
unified China, but only when a democratic system
can be installed in the country. The governments
in Beijing and Taipei should use all their
resources to negotiate a permanent resolution
for a one China and one system for a long
overdue reconciliation for both sides of the
Taiwan Strait.
Henry Ting is a
political commentator.
Speaking
Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that allows
guest writers to have their say. Please click here
if you are interested in
contributing. |
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