The transformation of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) into a political entity more akin to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the turning of the Democratic Progressive party (DPP) into a force which favored KMT ideals is the key policy being pursued by China in relation to its strategy to bring Taiwan into its fold, Chinese dissident writer Yuan Hongbing (袁紅冰) said in Taipei yesterday.
Yuan made the remarks at a symposium hosted by the Taiwan Society, the Northern Taiwan Society and the Taiwan Hakka Society titled “Imprisoned Taiwan and Ways to Break Out.”
Commenting on the recent trip to China made by former DPP premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), Yuan said that despite Hsieh’s comments that “there is no hatred between the DPP and the CCP,” the CCP aims to ensure that Taiwan is relegated to becoming a special municipality, like that of Hong Kong. Such an act would damage Taiwan and therefore the CCP is Taiwan’s enemy, he said, adding that Hsieh’s effort to be the “political third wheel” in the KMT-CCP political marriage is political suicide.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
The Chinese stance on this issue is very clear, Yuan said, pointing to former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji’s (朱鎔基) comment that “Nothing good would come of those who play at pro-Taiwanese independence politics” as evidence.
The Taiwanese people should not bow to Chinese intimidation or they risk the loss of the ideal of having their own nation, Yuan said.
Political commentator Chin Heng-wei (金恒煒), meanwhile, said: “It’s very sad to see [Hsieh] unaware that he is subjected to the United Front (統戰) rhetoric.”
Hsieh’s visit had failed as he had not been able to see any of the higher-level Chinese officials he wanted to meet and he only got to meet various people from United Front departments, Chin said, adding that the move had not only touched off an internal argument within the DPP — which the KMT and the CCP could watch from the sidelines — but it also did not bode well in terms of the DPP’s plan to return to power.
There are many academics who study China in both Europe and the US who have never been to China and who rely on reading, the Internet and interaction with exiled Chinese dissidents, Chin said, adding that these academics were sometimes more knowledgeable about China than their Chinese counterparts.
“There are many ways of understanding China, and you don’t necessarily have to go there, but if you are about to kowtow to China, then a visit is a must,” Chin said.
Commenting on the issue of the cross-strait peace accord previously trumpeted by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Yuan said: “You want to know what a [Chinese] peace accord is? Ask the Tibetans; they know it best.”
Taiwanese people must remember the result of the Agreement of the Central People’s Government and the Local Government of Tibet on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet signed in 1951 between China and Tibet, he said, adding that China reneged on the agreement and forcibly oppressed the Tibetan people.
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