On Aug. 30, the British parliament’s Foreign Affairs Select Committee said “Taiwan is already an independent country” in the report Tilting Horizons: the Integrated Review and the Indo-Pacific. It also said that Taiwan includes “a permanent population, a defined territory, government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other states,” and “it is only lacking greater international recognition.”
Even though British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs James Cleverly visited China at the same time the report was published, which followed a large gap after the previous visit of a British foreign minister, the parliament’s statement was a slap in the face to China. It showed that the visit was not about paying tribute, but to propagate British values. Member of Parliament Alicia Kearns, the committee’s chairperson, said the report was to “serve as a poignant message to autocratic regimes worldwide that sovereignty cannot be attained through violence or coercion.”
In the past few years, the US has publicly declared its support for the security and self-determination of Taiwan, indicating that a dispute over a UN seat is only about China, which means Taiwan is considered not part of China. The US has also accelerated arms sales to and military cooperation with Taiwan, assisting it in developing solid national defense capabilities. Today, as a close ally of the US, the British declaration means a lot to Taiwan.
With its “special relationship” in strategy and affinity toward the US, Britain has been a partner with Washington, expressing their strategic opinions covertly.
When former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) lost China and fled to Taiwan, the US stood by him because of their alliance on the surface. The US even supported Chiang in representing China to keep its permanent seat in the UN. Led by the US, none of the countries in the democratic alliance acknowledged the existence of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Nevertheless, Britain first accepted the PRC in 1950.
Behind this was the US’ need for the PRC’s help in countering the Soviet Union in the Cold War. After the PRC occupied the whole of China, the US wanted to contact it, so the US worked with Britain to announce the declaration first.
However, Mao Zedong (毛澤東) was unaware of the intricacies of the international game and kept fighting against the US, even joining the Korean War. Clearly, the US had failed to convey its message to the PRC. Not until the Zhenbao Island incident, which made the PRC and Soviet Union enemies, did Mao think of cooperation with the US.
It is highly significant for part of the British government to be the first to clearly call Taiwan an independent country in a public document. The report also shows an undeniable truth that Taiwan is an independent nation because it possesses all the elements of a modern nation, including population, territory and sovereignty.
The Taiwanese independence movement does not need to found the country again, but needs to take action to normalize the country. Vice President William Lai (賴清德) as a “political worker for Taiwanese independence” said that “Taiwan is already a sovereign, independent nation called the Republic of China,” so there is no need to declare independence.
Global support toward Taiwan has become much more solid and clear. In response, Taiwanese should also express their self-determination to the world that this nation is already an independent country.
Tommy Lin is the chairman of the Formosa Republican Association.
Translated by Chien Yan-ru
RSS