Taiwan independence: necessary,
\r\nbeyond campaign rhetoric<\/b><\/p>\r\n
Support for Taiwan independence\r\nis an inescapable conclusion of logical analysis<\/b><\/p>\r\n
By John Kusumi<\/b><\/p>\r\n
Recently, Western leaders including\r\nGeorge Bush, Howard Dean, and Jacques Chirac have shown a lack of comprehension\r\nabout Taiwan, as each came out with an expedient curtsey to the Communist regime\r\nof Beijing, China. With complexities and wrinkles that are unrivaled among other\r\npieces of real estate in our world, the status of Taiwan can be a real head\r\nscratcher among questions.<\/p>\r\n
Taiwan is thought to live in a status\r\nquo, and that is thought to be the middle ground between two extremes -- those\r\nbeing \"reunification\" with China, and \"independence\" from\r\nChina. The status quo also includes a few facts on the ground. I care to treat\r\nthem briefly, and not at length, but here are three: (1.) The PRC has never had\r\neffective control of Taiwan. Taiwan has enjoyed de facto independence for 55\r\nyears. (2.) The term \"reunify\" is a misnomer with the PRC. The two\r\nentities were never unified in the first place. (3.) Taiwan has no need to\r\ndeclare \"independence\" from the PRC, for the same reason. Never having\r\nbeen unified with the PRC, Taiwan need not separate from an entity of which it\r\nis not a part.<\/p>\r\n
The status quo also includes bluster,\r\nbellicose rhetoric, some 500 missiles that China has positioned and aimed at\r\nTaiwan, and the legacies of Mao's one-China principle and Kissinger's one-China\r\npolicy.<\/p>\r\n
As reported and as found in polling,\r\nsentiments of Taiwan's people have been moving away from\r\n\"reunification\" and towards \"independence.\" Present\r\ncircumstances make \"reunification\" impossible, and that option is off\r\nthe table. (Reasons why include Communist bungling of SARS, Hong Kong, human\r\nrights, and the present Taiwan Missile Crisis, etc.)<\/p>\r\n
If we allow that the foregoing is so,\r\nthen what remains on the table? Bush, Dean, and Chirac may have assumed that\r\n\"status quo\" and \"independence\" are on the table, and that\r\nthey are mutually exclusive. By process of elimination, we can see why\r\nsentiments of the electorate now point to \"independence.\" Bush, Dean,\r\nand Chirac may have mistaken talk of independence as a gambit in the re-election\r\nbid of Taiwan's President, Chen Shui-bian. Upon analysis, there are good reasons\r\nfor a pro-independence tilt in the electorate. The sentiment is not likely to go\r\naway unless and until the reasons go away. Taiwan's taste for independence\r\nthereby becomes structural, and our situation a deep-seated one.<\/p>\r\n
The good reasons for independence are\r\nmore than emotional responses to a bellicose PRC government -- although, we must\r\nallow that this, too, is a factor. For those who base politics on principles, it\r\nis easy to find the show-stopper reason why the status quo is intolerable and\r\nshould be taken off the table (removed from consideration) in our process of\r\nelimination.<\/p>\r\n
The reason is the issue of life and\r\ndeath. Public health is a bad choice of issue in which to play politics, yet\r\nChina routinely fights against Taiwan's participation in the W.H.O. -- the World\r\nHealth Organization. This was seen again last year, even though China itself was\r\nresponsible for the SARS epidemic. Last year, China twice played politics with\r\npublic health. By covering up the SARS epidemic, it threatened the health of the\r\nentire world. But in an ignominious second round of bad tempered behavior, China\r\nextended itself to fight against even observer\r\nstatus<\/i><\/b> for Taiwan at the\r\nW.H.O.<\/p>\r\n
Now let's ask, \"is the status quo\r\nacceptable to Taiwan?\" There are extra\r\ndead people<\/i><\/b>, based on the\r\nforegoing issue. A body count<\/i><\/b>\r\naccompanies this discussion, and it is attributable to the political gridlock of\r\nthe status quo. Taiwan's administration in Taipei keeps an eye on that death\r\ntoll, and glowers about 'medical apartheid.' The past year has seen more than\r\none Asian epidemic, and for its public health response, Taiwan could do well to\r\nbe plugged in to the world's medical system.<\/p>\r\n
When politics are principled rather than\r\nexpedient, life is preferred over death. Principled Taiwan voters would say that\r\n'no extra dead people are acceptable,' and hence that the status quo is\r\nunacceptable. By process of elimination, we arrive at Taiwan independence, and\r\nthat's even before we talk about missiles.<\/p>\r\n
Activate This!: the Kusumi\r\nbook<\/b> is now available: here.\r\nLearn stories of the former 18-year-old for U.S. President, including the 1989\r\nlaunch of the China Support Network. Part autobiography, part activist manual, Activate\r\nThis!<\/b>, has clues to the future of CSN and the politics of Practical\r\nIdealism. \"Can America have a better future? --Well, can America Activate\r\nThis!<\/b>?\" muses Kusumi.<\/i><\/p>\r\n\n","contact":"","link":"","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/html","summary":"George Bush, Howard Dean, and Jacques Chirac have shown a lack of comprehension about Taiwan. John Kusumi sets 'em straight.\r\n","numcomment":1,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2004\/03\/104147.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":104163,"heading":"independence","article":"Good thinkin', son. We tried to explain that in 1861, but those damned yankees claimed we were just defending slavery. We were just defending lives; if slavery was abolished, we might have had to work and that could have led to heart attacks or we could have fallen under a plow or something.","author":"Jeff Davis, Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson","parent_id":104147,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-03-02 20:54:32","modified":"2004-03-02 20:54:32","fileurl":""}]}