Is It still The China Post? Or is It now The Taiwan Post?

Is It still The China Post? Or is It now The Taiwan Post?
Bevin Chu
November 2, 2007

Today's China Post carried an article on the blow up between Lien Chan and Ma Ying-jeou.

In the article, entitled "Ma upholds 'one-China' principle with various definitions," dated Friday, November 2, 2007, the China Post news staff wrote:

"Opposition presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou clarified yesterday that he has always supported the idea of "national unification" between Taiwan and China [sic!] as well as a document backing the "one-China" principle reached by Taipei and Beijing in 1992."


The China Post. Or is it the Taiwan Post?

For the China Post to refer to the Chinese mainland as "China," and to Taiwan as if it were a separate and independent nation, is both ludicrous and appalling.

Have the editors forgotten that the name of their paper is "The China Post?"

The China Post is a paper located on Taiwan. It is rightly named the China Post because Taiwan is an integral part of China.

Strictly speaking, the ROC and the PRC are not really nations, but governments. Governments are not nations. Nations are not governments.

China is the name of the nation. The ROC and the PRC are governments that control different parts of China, but neither government is equivalent to the nation of China, qua nation.

If the China Post is so far down the "ben tu" path that it considers the Chinese mainland "China," and the Taiwan region of China a separate and independent nation, then why is it still referring to itself as "The China Post?" Why hasn't it changed its name to "The Taiwan Post?"

The blow up between Lien and Ma was precipitated by Ma Ying-jeou's craven retreat from the KMT's core value of "One China."

Ma has of course denied that the omissions mean anything.

But actions speak louder than words. If the omission of "National Reunification" and the "92 Consensus" was "no big deal," then why were they not left in?

Obviously getting rid of the two clauses was a big deal for Ma Ying-jeou.

For the past two years, Ma has been falling over himself in a desperate and pathetic attempt to transform himself from a citizen of the Republic of China to a presidential candidate for the "Nation of Taiwan."

Both the China Post and Ma Ying-jeou need to take a long hard look at where they're headed.

As the the admonition carved on the "pai lou" (entrance gate) of a local Taiwan monastery puts it:

"Ku hai wu bian, hui tou shi an" (The raging sea is boundless, but behind you is the shore)