“Let Taiwanese decide own future”
Dear Editor,
When I read Martin Willison’s editorial entitled “More to Taiwan separation issue than meets the eye of editorialist”, my brain did not go through the struggle Willison did. Both sides of my brain told me to respond immediately to Willison erroneous interpretation of the political situation in Taiwan no matter how small the reading audience might be.
First, while Willison criticizes the Chronicle Herald for comparing the Taiwan-China situation to that of the invasion of Hungry by Russia, he is incorrect; equally spurious is his comparison of Taiwan with the Province of Quebec. What Willison fails to recognize is that Taiwan has never been a part of the People’s Republic of China, unlike Quebec, which is a province of Canada. Canadians can travel freely to Quebec. There aren’t any border check points nor do Canadians have to apply for special permission, or a visa to go to Quebec. Foreign citizens can enter Quebec with a visa issued by the Canadian government. Moreover, when a Canadian marries a Quebecois, he/she does not have to apply for a spousal visa in order to reside in Quebec. None of this is true when it comes to Taiwan and China.
In addition, Willison’s article suffers from the same one-sidedness as his own criticism of the Herald’s editorial. Willison wrote under the assumption that Taiwan is a province of China whereas the current situation of Taiwan demonstrates otherwise. The article is filled with labels China has given Taiwan in its attempt to establish false claim over the island, for example, “Separatist” and “Province”. If Willison examines the Cairo Declaration or even the Shanghai Communiqué, he would find that none of the historical documents established or supported communist China’s claim over Taiwan. The claim over Taiwan and the Pescadores was released by Japan after Japan was defeated in World War II.
Moreover, Willison never clearly identify the political parties he mentioned in his article. I am confused by his statement that three of the opposition parties in Taiwan are pro-unification and that only DPP of the four main political parties in Taiwan is “separatist”. Taiwan has four major political parties, the DPP, the TSU, the KMT and the PFP. Both DPP and the TSU are “pro-independence”, which means both parties support Taiwan’s status as an independent nation-state. It is very important for an academic to get the facts correct before making the allegation that the DPP platform represents only the minority.
What I find most appalling was at the end of Willison’s article when he taunted the editors of the Chronicle Herald to “give a thought to what the people of mainland China think regarding the province of Taiwan” as if the opinions of Chinese citizens hold any credence when it comes to the Taiwanese determining the future of their own country. The ironclad fact is, the people of China cannot vote in any election or on any referendum in Taiwan, because Taiwan operates like an independent state separate from China as it has always been. Leave the Taiwanese alone. Let the citizens of Taiwan determine their own future and stop meddling with the island’s hard-earned democracy and freedom.
