Recently, the Institute for National Policy Research released a public opinion survey on the possibility of abolishing the unification guidelines. The results of the survey indicate that 51 percent of respondents do not support the idea that Taiwan must eventually unify with China, 68 percent said that it is necessary to review the feasibility of scrapping the doctrine aiming to achieve cross-strait unification, and that 78 percent said they agreed with the contention that Taiwan's future should be decided by its people. This is a reflection of mainstream public opinion.
President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) recent proposal to scrap the National Unification Council and unification guidelines came as a surprise to the US, especially as the US is now wrapped up in combating global terrorism and has relegated the cross-strait issue to the sidelines. However, the US should not adopt a passive attitude to the issue or even view Taiwan as a burden, but should rather use the issue to promote the idea of freedom to countries around the world. Aren't democratic elections in Iraq and the Taiwanese people's wish to decide their own future both examples of the values that the US is attempting to promulgate around the world?
The US still does not understand how to cope with China's "Anti-Secession" Law. The only thing that the US can do is to ask China to negotiate with Taiwan's democratically elected government. However, Beijing does not want to comply. China's growing military capabilities pose a threat to US interests. Chen's proposal to scrap the government agency and the doctrine, whose goal is the achievement of cross-strait unification, is the best way to deter China's ambitions. Surely then, he is working in favor of US interests.
Chen's recent proposal suggests that the government has begun to treat public opinion with the respect it deserves.
If Taiwan is to abandon the goal of cross-strait unification, it can be construed as a move toward democracy, for such a move will allow Taiwanese to decide their own future. If the US supports Taiwan's movement toward democracy, then it will help to bring about a change to China's brutal regime, boost global counter-terrorism efforts and even help to denuclearize the Korean peninsula.
Paul Lin is a writer based in the US.
TRANSLATED BY DANIEL CHENG
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
I have heard people equate the government’s stance on resisting forced unification with China or the conditional reinstatement of the military court system with the rise of the Nazis before World War II. The comparison is absurd. There is no meaningful parallel between the government and Nazi Germany, nor does such a mindset exist within the general public in Taiwan. It is important to remember that the German public bore some responsibility for the horrors of the Holocaust. Post-World War II Germany’s transitional justice efforts were rooted in a national reckoning and introspection. Many Jews were sent to concentration camps not
RSS