United, We Stand
Lung-chu Chen
During his
recent visit to Taiwan, Wei Jingsheng, China's best known exiled
dissident, warned politicians in Taiwan not to rely on external forces for
domestic political infighting, and not to play the "mainland China" card
for partisan political gains. United, Taiwan stands a chance to survive in
the face of Chinese threats; divided, Taiwan will lose it all.
It is not easy, however, to achieve such unity under the current political
configuration in Taiwan. Ever since May 20, 2000, many politicians just
cannot reconcile themselves to the reality of party rotation in
governance. Having lost the power to which they had long accustomed, those
people have formed an alliance to oppose and obstruct the new government
for the sake of opposition and obstruction, regardless of right or wrong.
Thus, despite Beijing's insistence on the "one China principle,"
politicians in Taiwan have not been able to cool down from their "China"
or "mainland" fever. One after another has gone to Beijing to kowtow.
China is only too happy to exploit Taiwan's internal contradictions and to
intensify its tactics of divide-and-conquer.
With so many kowtowing politicians, Beijing has skillfully used them to
divide Taiwan. Beijing has deliberately ignored the Chen Shui-bian
government and refused to dialogue and negotiate with the Chen government.
"Ally with your secondary enemy to attack the main enemy" is exactly what
the Chinese Communist leadership has been up to.
National interests override partisan interests. The Taiwanese people must
learn to distinguish good apples from rotten apples, and repudiate those
politicians who do not really identify with Taiwan (ROC) as a sovereign
State, independent of the People's Republic of China. |