The Republic of China's (ROC) Double Ten National Day is coming up next Monday. Taiwan's consulates around the world are preparing to celebrate this big event.
However, to many Taiwanese expatriates, this event has become a symbol of the nation's political divisions.
To many Taiwanese, Double Ten marks only the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)'s overthrow of the Qing dynasty, in which Taiwanese played no part. This event celebrates the birth of the ROC, which eventually brought much pain and terror to the Taiwanese through the KMT's rule by martial law.
In 2000, Taiwanese were finally able to vote out that corrupt, fascist party. Unfortunately, the government is still predominantly operated under the old system and bureaucracies imposed by the KMT. There was no cleansing of the KMT's guilt at all, which has encouraged that party to brazenly defy the people's interests and continue to wreak havoc in Taiwanese politics.
Taiwan has tried 13 times to reinstate its membership in the UN, but each attempt has failed. The real culprit is not China's obstruction. It is Taiwan's own fault that it insists on using the official national name, the ROC, to rejoin the UN. The UN has long ruled, based on Resolution 2758, that the People's Republic of China inherited the rights and UN seat of the ROC.
Obviously, continuing to promote the ROC internationally is not helpful to Taiwan's pursuit of UN membership.
With this in mind, it is not so difficult for many Taiwanese to hold their own opinion regarding Monday's "double trouble" event.
Yang Ji-Charng
Columbus,Ohio
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