Mon, Jan 27, 2003 page3

• Koo Kuan-min stays the course for independence

  STEADFAST The senior presidential adviser rejoined the DPP last week, but he still hopes that the country will go one step further than just maintaining its sovereignty

  • By Lin Mei-Chun / STAFF REPORTER
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  Staunch Taiwan independence advocate and senior presidential adviser Koo Kuan-min (辜寬敏) rejoined the DPP last week, asserting that his hope of establishing an independent Taiwan remained unchanged despite the DPP's embrace of the "New Middle Way."

  Holding high expectations of the DPP but disagreeing with some of the party's policies -- especially the moderation of its position on the nation's status -- Ku chose to become a party member for the second time in the belief that the government would be more receptive to his advice.

  To Koo, Taiwan independence remains of paramount importance.

  

  Koo Kuan-min talks about the importance of letting the people of Taiwan decide about their future.

  PHOTO: LIAO CHENG-HUEI, TAIPEI TIMES

  "Nothing will be left for the DPP and for President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to accomplish if the principle of [Taiwan independence] is discarded," Koo said

  Having had close ties with the DPP since the tangwai era, the 77-year-old Koo has come back into the fold to help the party must establish "a long-term regime" and because he wishes to contribute personally to the party during his remaining years.

  He said the two main opposition parties have alienated themselves from the electorate -- the KMT by abandoning the Taiwan-centered doctrine of former President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), and the PFP by over-relying on small handful of political stars.

  "It is inconceivable that there will be a second transfer of power [next year], the next four or five years will therefore be very crucial to [Taiwan's future development,]" he said.

  He said the DPP has consistently faltered when up against the pro-China forces, but he is convinced that the party will continue to rule. That's why he is particularly eager to serve.

  To bolster its position, he stresses, the DPP should stick to its principle of Taiwan independence, calling it "the DPP's biggest asset."

  He says he understands that Chen has to tone down his pro-independence stance to court the support of the majority, but, since China has never renounced its ambition to conquer Taiwan, "only with Taiwan's declaration of independence -- and the adoption of it as a mainstream value -- can the issue be solved," he said.

  Born into one of the most prestigious families in Taiwan, Koo is the youngest son of Koo Hsien-jung (辜顯榮), who was seen by many as a collaborator for opening Taipei's gates to invading Japanese troops in 1895 to be rewarded by being made a member of imperial Japan's House of Lords in 1934.

  Koo Hsien-jung began to establish a legendary saga in Taiwan.

  Gaining a monopoly on salt and opium, the elder Koo made himself a prominent and wealthy person in Taiwan at that time. His residence in Lukang in central Taiwan was turned into a museum.

  Koo Kuan-min's elder brother Koo Chen-fu (辜振甫) serves as the head of the Straits Exchange Foundation, and has been a top Taiwanese negotiator with China.

  But the two brothers have fostered different interests and chosen different political paths.

  While Koo Chen-fu used to be a member of the KMT's Central Standing Committee and enjoys Chinese opera, arts and literature, the younger Koo -- who was in exile in Japan in the 1960s and early 1970s -- is a staunch supporter of independence .

  He said that both his strong Taiwanese consciousness and his enthusiasm for helping the Taiwanese came from his father's influence.

  The influence explains why he did not obtain Japanese citizenship, despite living in Japan for decades and having a Japanese mother.

  The "traitor" label hanging over his father's memory, and the desire to remove it, has served as a further reason for his support of independence.

  A pioneer in the student movements of the 1940s, Koo gave up his studies at National Taiwan University (NTU), moving to Shanghai for fear of being arrested when KMT troops retreated to Taiwan. But he moved to Japan in 1950 to run the family's sugar business after discovering that his views did not correspond with those prevailing in Shanghai.

  He did not become a supporter of independence until 1964 when Peng Ming-min (彭明敏), then a professor of politics at NTU, was arrested for his preparations to announce a declaration of Taiwan's independence.

  Since then his life has revolved around campaigning for Taiwan's independence, both in Japan and the US.

  In 1965, he joined the pro-independence Taiwan Youth Association (台灣青年會), which was later renamed as "The Independence Alliance of Taiwanese Youth (台灣青年獨立聯盟)." He also worked to unite all the pro-independence organizations in the US and Japan to form the World United Formosans for Independence (WUFI, 台獨聯盟.)

  He was very concerned about Taiwan's international status while living overseas. Before Taiwan was expelled from the UN in 1971, his friends in the US, the UK and Japanese embassies suggested to Koo that if Taiwan would forsake its representation of China, it could stay as "Taiwan."

  Later on, Koo was granted a secret meeting with then- vice premier Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) in March 1972, at which he called on Chiang to resolve the nation's ethnic disputes, to cultivate an opposition party, and abandon the policy of pursuing the re-conquest of China.

  Chiang was said to have listened to the first two suggestions without raising objections, but was very annoyed on hearing the third proposal.

  Unfortunately, the meeting with Chiang led to conflict between Koo and WUFI. His comrades were worried that the KMT would make the meeting public and use it to discredit the organization. Koo sadly chose to leave, to minimize the possible impact on the group.

  Since his return to Taiwan, Koo's connections with the tangwai and then with the DPP, continued.

  Besides running his family business in real estate and trade, Koo has invested considerable cash and energy in pro-independence publications. Known for their strong pro-independence views and serious topics, the publications closed one after another. But he was not perturbed by the financial loss.

  In 1995, he joined the DPP for the first time, along with Peng Ming-min, when the latter was preparing to stand as a presidential candidate in 1996.

  But when then DPP chairman Shih Ming-teh (施明德) proposed to reconcile with the pro-unification New Party in 1996, Koo decided to distance himself from the party.

  When the DPP assumed power in May 2000, he was invited to serve as a senior presidential adviser, a position that he accepted and has often used to urge President Chen to continue to work toward Taiwan independence.

  He has openly attacked Chen's so-called "four no's" policy: no to declaring independence, changing Taiwan's formal name from the Republic of China, enshrining "state-to-state relations" in the ROC Constitution or endorsing a referendum on formal independence.

  By making promises in his inauguration, Koo says, the president over-reached his rights as president because the issue should be up to the people to decide.

  He says he never hesitates to spend his money on helping the Taiwanese people because that was the legacy left by his father.

  The elder Koo told his family before he died that he had acquired all of his wealth for the Taiwanese people, the money was just temporarily deposited in his pocket. "If you have the opportunity, you should return the money to the Taiwanese people," his father said.

  Koo Kuan-min never forgot his father's words. He was only 12 years old.

  Sharp and agile at the age of 77, Koo hasn't changed his inclination toward politics.
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