Taiwan independence: necessary,
beyond campaign rhetoric
Support for Taiwan independence
is an inescapable conclusion of logical analysis
By John Kusumi
Recently, Western leaders including
George Bush, Howard Dean, and Jacques Chirac have shown a lack of comprehension
about Taiwan, as each came out with an expedient curtsey to the Communist regime
of Beijing, China. With complexities and wrinkles that are unrivaled among other
pieces of real estate in our world, the status of Taiwan can be a real head
scratcher among questions.
Taiwan is thought to live in a status
quo, and that is thought to be the middle ground between two extremes -- those
being "reunification" with China, and "independence" from
China. The status quo also includes a few facts on the ground. I care to treat
them briefly, and not at length, but here are three: (1.) The PRC has never had
effective control of Taiwan. Taiwan has enjoyed de facto independence for 55
years. (2.) The term "reunify" is a misnomer with the PRC. The two
entities were never unified in the first place. (3.) Taiwan has no need to
declare "independence" from the PRC, for the same reason. Never having
been unified with the PRC, Taiwan need not separate from an entity of which it
is not a part.
The status quo also includes bluster,
bellicose rhetoric, some 500 missiles that China has positioned and aimed at
Taiwan, and the legacies of Mao's one-China principle and Kissinger's one-China
policy.
As reported and as found in polling,
sentiments of Taiwan's people have been moving away from
"reunification" and towards "independence." Present
circumstances make "reunification" impossible, and that option is off
the table. (Reasons why include Communist bungling of SARS, Hong Kong, human
rights, and the present Taiwan Missile Crisis, etc.)
If we allow that the foregoing is so,
then what remains on the table? Bush, Dean, and Chirac may have assumed that
"status quo" and "independence" are on the table, and that
they are mutually exclusive. By process of elimination, we can see why
sentiments of the electorate now point to "independence." Bush, Dean,
and Chirac may have mistaken talk of independence as a gambit in the re-election
bid of Taiwan's President, Chen Shui-bian. Upon analysis, there are good reasons
for a pro-independence tilt in the electorate. The sentiment is not likely to go
away unless and until the reasons go away. Taiwan's taste for independence
thereby becomes structural, and our situation a deep-seated one.
The good reasons for independence are
more than emotional responses to a bellicose PRC government -- although, we must
allow that this, too, is a factor. For those who base politics on principles, it
is easy to find the show-stopper reason why the status quo is intolerable and
should be taken off the table (removed from consideration) in our process of
elimination.
The reason is the issue of life and
death. Public health is a bad choice of issue in which to play politics, yet
China routinely fights against Taiwan's participation in the W.H.O. -- the World
Health Organization. This was seen again last year, even though China itself was
responsible for the SARS epidemic. Last year, China twice played politics with
public health. By covering up the SARS epidemic, it threatened the health of the
entire world. But in an ignominious second round of bad tempered behavior, China
extended itself to fight against even observer
status for Taiwan at the
W.H.O.
Now let's ask, "is the status quo
acceptable to Taiwan?" There are extra
dead people, based on the
foregoing issue. A body count
accompanies this discussion, and it is attributable to the political gridlock of
the status quo. Taiwan's administration in Taipei keeps an eye on that death
toll, and glowers about 'medical apartheid.' The past year has seen more than
one Asian epidemic, and for its public health response, Taiwan could do well to
be plugged in to the world's medical system.
When politics are principled rather than
expedient, life is preferred over death. Principled Taiwan voters would say that
'no extra dead people are acceptable,' and hence that the status quo is
unacceptable. By process of elimination, we arrive at Taiwan independence, and
that's even before we talk about missiles.
Activate This!: the Kusumi
book is now available: here.
Learn stories of the former 18-year-old for U.S. President, including the 1989
launch of the China Support Network. Part autobiography, part activist manual, Activate
This!, has clues to the future of CSN and the politics of Practical
Idealism. "Can America have a better future? --Well, can America Activate
This!?" muses Kusumi.