As the US presidential election is scheduled to take place in November next year, the Republican Party has begun its series of primaries. Three decades ago, candidates locked horns over issues like balancing the budget, the legalization of abortion, gun control and racism. Decades later, these issues still come up on the agenda, meaning that the problems have not been satisfactorily addressed. A new issue has been added to this year’s election, with both the Democratic Party and Republican Party agreeing on its core outline, that of countering China. The US presidential election is about choosing a candidate who can keep the nation in place as the world’s predominant superpower.
In contrast, aside from the foreign policy issue concerning Taiwanese independence or Chinese unification, Taiwan’s Jan. 13 election campaign has seen the copious and all too usual mudslinging against candidates. The question about Taiwan’s status has always concerned people’s ideology and values. Those who are familiar with history would know that when the Constitution was first promulgated, the territory included both China and Taiwan. However, in the intervening period after the Chinese Civil War, with the victory of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong (毛澤東) and defeat of former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), China naturally “vanished” from its place in the Constitution, with Chiang keen to keep inciting his people to launch a counteroffensive to reclaim the lost territory and recover China.
Since 1949, the territory outlined in the Constitution has been Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu. Similar to the Mexican-American War of 1846 to 1848, in which Mexico ceded a large tract of its territory after defeat — 55 percent to be more precise — which included the present-day US states of California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, most of Arizona and Colorado, and parts of Oklahoma, Kansas and Wyoming. Like Taiwan, Mexico could no longer lay claim to the lost territory as its own.
Some people are of the view that changing the name of the nation would be an act of pushing for Taiwanese independence. However, for the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), whether under the name of the Republic of China (ROC) or Taiwan, as long as Taiwan is de facto separated from the PRC and is not subordinate to it, then it is already a form of independence. From the time of former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin (江澤民) up to the present day under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), Beijing seethes at Taiwan holds presidential elections.
Former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) used to say that people who identify either with the ROC or Taiwan should embrace each other so that China would not be able to sow discord and that Taiwan should adopt a pro-US policy. Jan. 13 happens to mark the 36th anniversary of his death. His stance rings true and is worthy of being remembered.
This year’s election should be focused on the following issues:
First, how to elevate people’s sense of national identity, so that fewer people identify with the aggressor, China, as their homeland.
Second, how to increase public investment and bolster economic development, for example, by developing plans to extend the high speed rail network around Taiwan proper, including Yilan, Hualien, Taitung and Pingtung.
Third, how to facilitate judicial reform and improve the quality of prosecutors, lawyers and judges so that people can have greater trust in their judicial system. These issues are of greater significance and importance and should be discussed in the campaign, instead of the unfocused public discussion we see now, engulfed in personal attacks, fake polls and fake news.
Chuang Sheng-rong is a lawyer.
Translated by Rita Wang
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