In his Oct. 25 piece in the China Times, Taipei Mayor and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), with great rhetorical skill and subtle distortion, misrepresented Taiwanese history and the beliefs about one of Taiwan's most respected democracy pioneers.
Ma asserted that my grandfather Kuo Yu-hsin (
In his written statement presented to the US Congress during hearings on Taiwan before the Committee on Foreign Affairs on Feb. 7 and 8, 1979, entitled "The People of Taiwan Demand Self-Determination and Independence," he stated: "The future of Taiwan should be determined by the people of Taiwan alone, in accordance with the principle of self-determination. Given a free chance, we will reject domination by People's Republic of China and continued dictatorship by the KMT. Meanwhile, we will undeniably promote democratic institutions a la America, British or Swiss style, pursue a free, equitable economic system, seek peace with all nations, and safeguard independence -- de facto and de jure -- for Taiwan, our sacred homeland."
In 1978, Kuo Yu-hsin ran by proxy against Chiang Ching-kuo (
"The future status of Taiwan must be determined only by the people who live in the island of Taiwan. We, the Taiwanese, repudiate the present Nationalist [KMT] regime who, in the name of China, perpetuates a repressive minority rule in Taiwan. We also repudiate the People's Republic of China for its political and territorial ambitions over Taiwan.
"The right to self-determination of the Taiwanese people is not negotiable. We firmly believe that when the people of Taiwan are permitted to openly and freely express their political choice, they will overwhelmingly choose to establish a new and independent country of their own, in which freedom, equality, justice, and democracy prevail."
Kuo Yu-hsin spent most of his life fighting for human rights, freedom and democracy. After serving 25 years in the Provincial Assembly, where he championed social legislation on behalf of farmers, workers, the elderly and the handicapped, he made an unsuccessful bid for the legislature in a campaign that has been well-documented as fraught with election fraud by the KMT.
After years of living under constant surveillance and the threat of assassination by the KMT, Kuo moved to the US in 1977 in self-imposed exile. There, he founded the Overseas Alliance for Democratic Rule in Taiwan and lobbied the US Congress for support on the establishment of democratic rule and human rights in Taiwan.
More than 25 years ago, before even the formation of the Democratic Progressive Party, Kuo Yu-hsin already understood that Taiwan was a de facto independent country. He believed that given a choice -- one made without fear and coercion -- the people of Taiwan would overwhelmingly support a declaration and establishment of formal independence. Kuo Yu-hsin's vision for Taiwan was an independent, internationally recognized Taiwan Nation.
DeeAnn Kuo
Fairfax, Virginia
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
If you had a vision of the future where China did not dominate the global car industry, you can kiss those dreams goodbye. That is because US President Donald Trump’s promised 25 percent tariff on auto imports takes an ax to the only bits of the emerging electric vehicle (EV) supply chain that are not already dominated by Beijing. The biggest losers when the levies take effect this week would be Japan and South Korea. They account for one-third of the cars imported into the US, and as much as two-thirds of those imported from outside North America. (Mexico and Canada, while
The military is conducting its annual Han Kuang exercises in phases. The minister of national defense recently said that this year’s scenarios would simulate defending the nation against possible actions the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) might take in an invasion of Taiwan, making the threat of a speculated Chinese invasion in 2027 a heated agenda item again. That year, also referred to as the “Davidson window,” is named after then-US Indo-Pacific Command Admiral Philip Davidson, who in 2021 warned that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the PLA to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. Xi in 2017