Agreeing to the One-China policy isn't enough; Taiwan has to agree to eventual "reunification" with the PRC. That's Joe Hung from his column, Ma said he would sign peace accord:
Ma Ying-jeou's "three-no" stance on relations between Taiwan and China cannot meet the fundamental requirement of Beijing "one China" principle as set forth in the consensus of 1992. Ma wants "no" independence for Taiwan, "no" force of arms used across the Strait and "no" change in the status quo. He has to add "eventual unification" to the trinity to dispel Beijing's suspicion.
Just how would the KMT president sell surrender to the Taiwanese?
As a non-Hoklo president, Ma may feel it difficult to make that pronouncement. He does not want to expose himself to independence activists who will charge him with selling out Taiwan to China. But he can easily neutralize any venomous attack by telling the Hoklo-Hakka majority that he visualizes relations between Taiwan and China in the future as those between Great Britain and Canada, or Australia or New Zealand.
These former British colonies, in the words of the Pronouncement of the Imperial Conference of 1926, are "autonomous communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by a common allegiance to the Crown and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations." Internationally, these communities were recognized as separate states, entitled to have separate representation in the League of Nations and other world organizations, to appoint their own ambassadors, and to conclude their own treaties. [emphasis added]
A similar arrangement can be made for Taiwan to be unified with China in the name of the Chinese nation. That commits Taiwan to Beijing's fundamental "one China" principle.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let's take a look at the part I've underlined, and put that into a "Chinese Commonwealth" context: These Chinese polities...are autonomous communities within the Chinese nation, equal in status, in no way subordinate to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by a common allegiance to One China and freely associated...
1) Taiwan and China would be equal in status in this hypothetical Commonwealth? Really now.
2) Taiwan would NOT be subordinate in Hung's wonderful fantasy land? Uh-huh.
3) The Chinese Commonwealth would be a FREE association? Joe, put down that opium pipe!
Because the British Commonwealth is a free association, Australia has the liberty to LEAVE it. Likewise, Canada can withdraw any damn time it wants to. And New Zealand? Why, tiny New Zealand can pack its bags TOMORROW, and not a single missile will be fired upon it in anger by a vengeful Great Britain.
Taiwan free to exit a Chinese Commonwealth? Ehhh, not so much - and no amount of "visualization" on Ma Ying-jeou's part will ever change that. The plain facts are that while the British Commonwealth is a voluntary organization, Joe Hung's Chinese Commonwealth would be a prison with no escape. To suggest otherwise is to grossly misrepresent the world in which we live.
(One other hitch: The British Commonwealth can EXPEL members for human rights violations. Does Hung imply that mighty Taiwan will have the power to cast China out of his Commonwealth for, I dunno let's say, another Tiananmen massacre or further barbarism in Tibet?)
New readers might want to take a look at a post about this I wrote a couple of years ago. A bit wordy perhaps, but it still holds up. You can read it - or you can skip it. That's FREEDOM. Quite a different thing from being handed a Little Red Book at gunpoint and being ordered to memorize it in a Chinese re-education camp.
Freedom and compulsion. Voluntary association and involuntary servitude. Sadly, Joe Hung seems to believe these things are all one and the same.
Good post.
Taiwanese amazed the world by their democracy progress once, and amazed the world again by giving it up democratically.
Posted by: Taiwan Echo | April 08, 2008 at 01:57 PM
The ROC needs to resist the PRC siren song. If they grow weak, then the U.S. will decide that they're not worth defending.
Posted by: Tom the Redhunter | April 10, 2008 at 05:12 PM