Synthesised GP Blog

China, not Taiwan, nor both.

Perhaps it is just me, with my background on the secession issues, I feel Taiwan's plight today is not self-inflicted. It is most probably a result of mere misfortune. A light reading on Taiwan's history would give you an impression of a troubled state - one that has been not treated with much importance, not until today.

A brief highlight of her past leads us back to Qing Dynasty. After being defeated, Ming Dynasty navy commnader Zheng Chenggong retreated to Taiwan. However, Qing Dynasty reclaimed the land back from the Zheng's only to lose it later to the Japanese during the Sino-Japanese war in WWII. When China again got Taiwan back, it was a retreating ground for the then failed communist party KMT. Then, the rightful ruler of the "state" became marred but the UN and Western countries regarded Taiwan as part of the Communist People's Republic of China at that time.

President Chen Shui-bian (with the Democratic Progressive Party) now governs the state and has done so for 6 years. After his marginal re-elections in 2004, he had been very temptedto falling for the concept of separating from mainland China. The latest and most controversial being his disbanding of the unification council.

IS he to be blamed for all these?

Personally, I feel the state can be compared to a disowned child. She had been housing exiled chinese, lost to Japan, and home for a couple of prominent refugees. Her rapid economic growth into one of the East Asian Tigers was not a direct result of any of the mainland's actions. She has developed her own independence as a sovereign state with an unique culture and population.

Now, the parent has found value in this child. The world would not disagree. After all, the mother who gives birth to the child is the root cause of any successes he/she has. She claims the right of at least owning him/her. Choice is not applicable to the child who grew up without the parent because he/she cannot escape the black and white genetic fact.

Moral obligations aside, there are even bonuses for all who agrees to a "rightful" unification. The parent is rich, influential and famous. Anyone with the right mind would not wish to sing the wrong tune.

And hence, "One China" is a widely accepted concept. There are simply no disagreements. The connections China has gained herself is extensive - from the US to Asia to Europe to Russia. When there is such global consensus, any challenge is futile. With China's rapidly rising economy, a sudden change in perspective is close to impossible. People will only more and more stick to China's solution to the problem: a military-free unification.

The whole world has started a trend of picking up the chinese language. Yet, we have a state-to-be of the potential superpower resisting the norm. The choice seems oddly simple but the child probably can't help but cry out his resentment.

posted by synthesis @ 9:07 PM