Our Vehement Objection to China's "Basic Guidelines" Regarding Taiwan

The white paper China released last month 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 white 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," merely reveals how ignorant China is about the will of the Taiwanese. While we think it pathetic of China to make up such a lie, it also makes us seriously suspect what ill intention is really behind all this.

China's address to the Taiwan issue is prevailingly inconsistent. On one hand, it acknowledges the rightful demand of the Taiwanese for the jurisdiction of self-rule; on the other hand, it refuses to see such jurisdiction as "independence." Would China be able to retain its sovereignty were it not an independent country? How is it possible for the Taiwanese to have jurisdiction of self-rule, i.e. sovereignty, if Taiwan is not an independent nation?

The white paper delivers the gravest insult to Taiwanese by alleging that "Taiwan's independence movement is a sell-out to foreign countries that hope to see a divided China." It even forewarns that China will not simply sit and watch the occurrence of any action that may possible lead to Taiwan's independence. We are telling the Chinese government now: the right to pursue the founding of an independent country is an inalienable right that the Taiwanese are entitled to; all people with dignity deserve this right. In our fight for an independent state of Taiwan, we need and welcome international support. Such support is the major force to ensure justice and peace in the international community. By voicing its threat, China not only expounds its disrespect for moral courage in the international community but also reveals its disdain for human rights.