Taiwan Independence, R.I.P.

Taiwan Independence, R.I.P.
Bevin Chu
January 21, 2001

Executive Summary: Taiwan independence is dead. It died, stillborn. Taiwan independence was the triumph of politics over economics. That is, until the iron laws of The Marketplace turned Taiwan independence zealots' pipe dream to dust. In retrospect, no other result was possible, or should have been expected.

Taiwan Independence is Dead

A funny thing happened to Taiwan independence. It died stillborn, and never saw the light of day.

On May 20, 2000, oriental despot Lee Teng-hui, in a brazenly fixed "democratic" election, "peacefully transferred" his imperial presidency to longtime Taiwan independence demagogue Chen Shui-bian.

By October 2000, five short months after Chen's "historic" victory at the polls, Taiwan independence had been utterly discredited. A-Bian's administration was adrift and rudderless. The public was dumbfounded and disillusioned. Anyone not wearing ideological blinders could see Taiwan independence was a bankrupt ideology and a spent political force.

The TAIEX had plummeted to 5000 from a 52 week high of 11,000, for an entirely different set of reasons than the NASDAQ, leaving Taiwan's shareholders, mostly small, individual investors, poorer by half. A quarter of all manufacturing facilities on Taiwan had closed their doors forever, or were in the process of doing so. Laid off factory workers were committing suicide by running hoses from their exhaust pipes into their cars. Those too poor even to own cars were hanging themselves from the rafters. A-Bian's approval rating had plunged from a high of 80% upon his inauguration to a low of 35%. Voters who had cast their ballots for Chen were calling in to local TV talk shows to confess they regretted their choice.

Billionaire industrialist Wang Yung-ching, CEO of Formosa Plastics, a "native" Taiwanese Horatio Alger revered by millions as "The God of Enterprise," was demanding that A-Bian immediately acknowledge the "One China Principle" and open "Three Links" to the Chinese mainland ASAP, or else Taiwan's economy would be done for within three years. "We're all Chinese on both sides of the Strait after all," Wang affirmed, "what's the problem?" "The Lee Period was not as good as the Chiang Ching-kuo Era," Wang added for good measure, "and the Chen Period is even worse than the Lee Period."

Academia Sinica Chairman and Nobel Laureate in Chemistry Lee Yuan-tseh, head of A-Bian's own hand-picked Brain Trust, was sternly admonishing Chen, "Time is not on our side," echoing the New Party's long-held cross Straits policy stance, and sounding remarkably like a pro reunification opposition spokesman.

A surprisingly cohesive alliance consisting of the ROC's three major opposition parties, the Kuomintang (without Lee Teng-hui at the helm, naturally), the New Party, and the People First Party, all solidly pro reunification and representing 61% of the voting public, was loudly demanding Chen Shui-bian's recall.

Former DPP chairman Shih Ming-teh wryly noted that "It took Lee Teng-hui twelve years to divide the KMT into three [rival parties, the KMT, NP, and PFP], but Chen Shui-bian only five months to unite them back into one." Shih, along with former DPP Chairman Hsu Hsing-liang and former DPP PR chief Sissy Chen, three of the DPP's brightest lights, had resigned from the party in disgust, repudiated Taiwan independence ideology and become the movement's harshest and most effective critics.

Even the Dalai Lama had gotten in the act, and was cautioning Chen that in light of Taiwan's close cultural and economic affinity with mainland China, it was unimaginable that the island could be separated from mainland China and become fully independent. Say what you will about His Holiness, he's a lot quicker on the uptake than his counterparts on Taiwan.

Who could have imagined the tide would turn so quickly?

What happened?

See:
Taiwan's Fraudulent Election

The Triumph of Politics over Economics

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it"
-- George Santayana

What happened was the great American historian George Santayana was vindicated, again, for the umpteenth time. The lesson of history it would seem, is nobody ever learns a damned thing from history. The underlying cause of the Taiwan independence movement's astonishingly swift collapse, at its apparent moment of triumph, was in fact glaringly obvious, at least to anyone not blinded by his own political zealotry.

"It was the economy, stupid!"

The trump card for Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo in their Cold War era struggle against Mao Tse-tung, just as it was for West Germany and South Korea, was the ROC's capitalist economy. It was the free market ROC's reward for putting economics ahead of politics. As Deng Xiaoping, "Capitalist Roader No. Two" would later put it, "White cat, black cat. As long as it catches rats it's a good cat." The mainland's grinding poverty was Maoist hard-liners' bitter harvest for putting politics ahead of economics. As the late Chairman Mao himself put it, "Better Red than Expert."

Putting politics ahead of economics would also be the reason for Taiwan's alarmingly swift economic decline under petty tribalists Lee Teng-hui and Chen Shui-bian.

Lee Teng-hui, Chen Shui-bian and the Taiwan separatist nomenklatura have never really understood how the vast wealth that fell into their laps was created in the first place. To nomenklatura everywhere, immense public wealth is like the air around them. "It's free. It's ours. And hey, there's plenty more where that came from!" The late Senator Dirksen satirized the nomenklatura mindset with his immortal quip, "A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you're getting into real money."

Stupifyingly naive Newsweek correspondents' assertions to the contrary, "Mr. Democracy's" most enduring "legacy" was to squander in a single decade what ROC taxpayers had diligently amassed over the previous four. Lee cavalierly frittered away the ROC's economic advantage greasing the palms of tin pot dictators, foreign arms merchants, and rabid anti-China hawks in The World's Greatest Deliberative Body. All in a extravagant and quixotic effort to lay the groundwork for a "Republic of Taiwan." Lee Teng-hui's "checkbook diplomacy," in tandem with his "Avoid Haste, Be Patient" cross straits policy eventually hollowed out the ROC economy.

Does Lee, who does not consider himself Chinese but rather Japanese, give a damn? Hardly. If nullifying the ROC's hard won economic miracle was the price of manipulating Taiwan Chinese into hating mainland Chinese, to the strategic advantage of unrepentant Japanese expansionists, so be it. The only people Lee has ever identified with are the Japanese. Not peace loving Japanese individuals of conscience, such as Professor Saburo Ienaga, candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize, but war criminal Hirohito and neofascist Shintaro Ishihara.

As New Party legislator Fung Hu-hsiang astutely observed, to understand Lee Teng-hui's perspective on any issue, simply imagine how a right wing Japanese militarist would see the same issue, and you will have your answer. The irony of course is that Lee's "Taiwan independence now, Taiwan independence forever, to hell with the cost" policy left his own hand-picked successor without the means to carry on his holy crusade. Lee's Taiwan independence chickens have come home to roost in Chen's coop.

Chen's dilemma can be stated quite simply.

If on the one hand, 23 million living, breathing human beings on Taiwan are to survive, let alone prosper, A-Bian must boldly sweep aside his predecessor's artifical barriers standing in the way of economic, social, and yes, political reintegration with the Chinese mainland.

If on the other hand, the constipated, small-minded, petty insular ideology of Taiwan independence is to survive, A-Bian must not only keep Lee Teng-hui's barriers in place, he must erect even higher ones, committing economic suicide. Taiwan will then devolve into an impoverished island backwater unable to afford the cost of political independence.

A-Bian has arrived at a fork in the road. Both roads lead to One China. Take one and arrive before dusk, warm, dry and refreshed. Take the other and arrive at the same destination after midnight, cold, wet and exhausted. The route is optional; the destination is not.

One almost feels sorry for A-Bian. Almost.

See:
A Brush-Off for Business, Chen needs to rebuild confidence -- fast

The Racist Roots of Taiwan Independence

Taiwan independence ideologues neglected the ROC economy, because its devotees among the left of center DPP and TAIP have never really believed their own high-minded rhetoric about why they were demanding independence. As A-Bian's post-election behavior makes clear, "freedom and democracy" were expendable. And if you expect a party named the "Democratic Progressive Party" to rush to defend sovereign individuals' right to own private property and engage in free trade, think again.

Instead Taiwan independence was animated at its core by anti-Chinese race hatred and the Stockholm Syndrome. Many Taiwan independence extremists within the DPP and TAIP are in fact ethnic Japanese. Like exiled White Russian aristocrats following the Bolshevik Revolution, these Japanese colonial overlords deeply resented the loss of their privileged, exalted status. They never came to terms with Japan's humiliating surrender to the Chinese, whom they held in contempt as racially inferior. Rather than be repatriated to Japan, they remained on Taiwan as fifth columnists and struggled to sabotage Taiwan's restoration to China.

Together with "Japan-ized," "Stockholm Syndrome-ized" Taiwan independence Quislings, they provoked the infamous 2-28 Incident of 1947, massacring thousands of defenseless Chinese, including women and children. Some even donned their mothballed Imperial Japanese Army uniforms and samurai swords. The Taiwan independence zealots' primary targets were "mainland" Chinese, but "native" Taiwanese caught sheltering the zealots' intended victims were hacked to death with samurai swords as casually as the rest.

Other Taiwan independence extremists are the illegitimate offspring of unfortunate Taiwan Chinese women sexually molested by Japanese soldiers during Japan's brutal 50 year colonial occupation. Like Adolph Hitler, who suspected he was part Jewish, but despised that aspect of his background, some have attempted to cope with their painful inner conflict by identifying exclusively with their Japanese component and utterly disowning their Chinese component. They loath anything and everything Chinese, because being Chinese is associated in their tortured psyches with contemptible weakness and impotence. They strive desperately to be "more Japanese than the Japanese" because being Japanese is associated with a comforting sense of efficacy and power.

Lee Teng-hui is widely believed to be just such an individual. A family portrait of the Lee family reveals an adolescent Lee Teng-hui who bears no resemblance whatsoever to his nominal father, Lee Ching-lung, but an uncanny resemblance to the Japanese police officer standing in the background, the elder Lee's superior officer and "friend of the Lee family."

I have refrained in the past from discussing these skeletons in the Taiwan independence closet because merely mentioning them could easily be mischaracterized as racist provocation. In fact the racism is not mine, but theirs.

Just north of Korea's China border, a visitor to the region will encounter 2 million Chinese citizens of ethnic Korean descent. They fled to China during the chaos of the Korean War. They are considered every bit as "Chinese" as so-called "Han" Chinese.

In Japan on the other hand, even ethnic Koreans who have lived in Japan for four generations are still considered "sangokujin" or "dangerous aliens" by Japanese demagogues such as neofascist Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara, a close friend of Taiwan independence Quislings Lee Teng-hui and Annette Lu.

Dr. Wendy Abraham of the Sino-Judaic Institute of Menlo Park, California recounts a fascinating but obscure tale of Jewish traders who traveled to ancient China on the Silk Road, as early as the Tang dynasty. China was the only nation in the world, Dr. Abraham avers, which never singled out the Jewish people for scapegoating on the basis of their heritage. Descendants of Kaifeng Jews in China today still identify themselves as "Yutai," i.e., "Judaic," on government census forms.

See:
Taiwan Independence and the Stockholm Syndrome
Rabble Rouser
Lost Jews of Kaifeng. Click on History

There is only One Race

"There is only one race, the human race."
-- Pearl Bailey

China is a political entity with a venerable unifying cultural heritage, but the Chinese are not a race. The Chinese couldn't be racists demanding "racial purity," even if they wanted to be. The Chinese have been mutts or mongrels of mixed, indeterminate origin since time immemorial. Both Beijing and Taipei agree that China is comprised of roughly 56 "official" ethnic groups. Both are also aware the lines between these "official" categories are so blurred as to be virtually meaningless. .

Even so-called "Hans" are not a homogeneous ethnic group. What was once referred to as "Han China" has been invaded so many times over so many centuries, quite frankly nobody knows who's who anymore, or cares. Confront any modern Chinese with this aspect of China's history and their puzzled reaction will invariably be, "That's interesting isn't it? Why do you mention it?"

This incidentally, is among the "reasons" pre WWII Japanese strategic thinkers considered Chinese to be genetically inferior. Chinese were sheep whom nature intended to be sheared, therefore undeserving of mercy. Such reasoning culminated in the Rape of Nanking and Japanese Imperial Army Unit 731's Joseph Mengele style "medical experiments" performed on live victims.

See:
The Other Holocaust: Nanjing Massacre, Unit 731, Unit 100, Unit 516

Human beings are simply human beings. Leading edge research on human DNA has confirmed what most unprejudiced individuals already knew. Inheritable differences attributed to "race," are of insufficient magnitude to constitute distinct subspecies. As far as geneticists and molecular biologists are concerned, race is a non-category, a fiction.

"Today, many anthropologists speak of clines, or gradations, to distinguish between degrees of genetic closeness that include differences in skin color, propensity toward diseases, and all the other factors-visible and hidden-that make us what we are. Geneticists speak of lineages, or haplotypes, when they describe the different subgroups that have descended from our common ancestors. The old distinctions between what were once called races persist in everyday speech, but they are becoming linguistically and ideologically obsolete and as far removed from science as the once exalted study of alchemy."
-- Bettyann Holtzmann Kevles and Marilyn Nissenson

A History Lesson

Taiwan independence Quislings routinely assert that Taiwan's economic miracle was "built on a foundation of efficient Japanese colonial rule" and owes little or nothing to mainland China, or even "mainlanders" on Taiwan. Those familiar with China's history know this to be a textbook example of The Big Lie. While smugly proclaiming total independence from the Chinese mainland, Taiwan separatist spinmeisters have consistently evaded at least three inconvenient realities.

One, Chinese Sweat. A mainland Chinese administration masterminded the Taiwan region's post war economic miracle.

Two, Chinese Money. Taiwan's gold reserves came straight out of the vaults of China's Central Bank in Nanking.

Three, Chinese Blood. The Taiwan region was spared an eternity of Japanese colonial over lordship, as well as Mao's collectivist excesses by pro capitalist mainland Chinese who refused to yield to either.

Chinese Sweat

A mainland Chinese administration masterminded the Taiwan region's post war economic miracle.

The vaunted "Japanese infrastructure" Taiwan independence zealots invoke so routinely and wistfully, including manufacturing plants and the rail system, was leveled to the ground during the final years of WWII by USAF B-29s. Reduced to rubble. Blown to smithereens. Gone. No longer existed.

So how could it have contributed anything whatsoever to Taiwan's subsequent prosperity?

It couldn't. It didn't.

In fact Taiwan's modern infrastructure and heavy industrial facilities were constructed from the ground up on the rubble of WWII, during the administrations of Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo.

Chiang Kai-shek's administration parceled out public land administered by the ousted Japanese colonial government to impoverished Taiwan Chinese peasants, to be used for agriculture, or to Taiwan Chinese entrepreneurs, to be used as factory sites for basic industries. Even occupation era landlords, who if truth be told were Japanese collaborators, were generously compensated with shares in the newly established companies. Both peasants and former landlords prospered. Lee Teng-hui crony Ku Chen-fu's family was compensated with shares in Taiwan Cement. Ku today is a billionaire.

Chinese Money

Taiwan's gold reserves came straight out of the vaults of China's Central Bank in Nanking.

When the Japanese were defeated and forced to retreat to Japan's main islands, the Bank of Taiwan was bankrupt. Japan's samurai fascists had squandered all of Japan's wealth on their megalomaniac campaign of hemispheric conquest, and had emptied Taiwan's coffers in the process. The Taiwan dollar in 1945 was worth roughly as much as Confederate money in 1865. In other words, it wasn't worth the paper it was printed on. No one in his right mind would accept Taiwan dollars, because they were fiat currency backed by nothing, nada.

Taiwan as a result had no way to rebuild.

In 1949, when Mao's CCP defeated the KMT, Chiang Kai-shek emptied out the vaults of China's Central Bank in Nanking, and shipped her entire gold reserves, 920,000 liangs worth, to Taipei. This gold was deposited in the vaults of the Bank of Taiwan and used to back the New Taiwan Dollar, making possible Taiwan's economic recovery and subsequent economic miracle. In the process vast expanses of China's mainland provinces and regions were impoverished for the benefit of one tiny offshore province, Taiwan.

Does the province of Taiwan really have no connection with rest of China?

Chinese Blood

The Taiwan region was spared an eternity of Japanese colonial over lordship, as well as Mao's collectivist excesses by mainland Chinese who refused to yield to either.

During the early years of Japanese occupation, valiant Taiwan Chinese engaged in armed resistance against Japan's army of occupation. Tragically, their undermanned, ill equipped ranks were annihilated by Japan's vastly superior forces. This patriotic Chinese resistance movement is sometimes referred to as "Taiwan independence." Their heroic late 19th century anti-colonialist movement must not be confused with Lee Teng-hui and Annette Lu's post WWII nostalgia for Japanese colonial rule, for reasons which should be obvious.

Instead Taiwan was emancipated from an eternity of demeaning Japanese colonial rule in 1945 only through the sacrifices of millions of fellow Chinese on the mainland. The price they paid was staggering. An estimated 1.3 to 2.2 million Chinese military dead. An estimated 13 to 22 million Chinese civilian dead. Taiwan today is out from under the Japanese yoke only because millions of mainland Chinese sacrificed their lives resisting Japan's infernal war machine for eight hellish years.

The vast majority of ordinary Taiwan Chinese who kept a low profile, obeyed the Japanese occupation forces under duress, at the points of Japanese bayonets, are innocent and blameless. Most Taiwan Chinese were for all intents and purposes kidnap victims rescued from their Japanese abductors by their mainland Chinese relatives.

Taiwan's "comfort women" in particular, like the 300,000 victims of the Rape of Nanking, were fellow victims of brutal Japanese aggression. Mainland Chinese and "mainlanders" on Taiwan feel enormous sympathy and a deep sense of solidarity with them.

Taiwan's Quisling elite on the other hand, not only made it more difficult for mainland Chinese to defeat Japan and liberate Taiwan, they made it more difficult for any Taiwan Chinese who dared contemplate overthrowing their Japanese overlords from within Taiwan.

Similarly, the Taiwan region of China was spared Mao's crackpot Marxist Leninist misrule only because Chiang Kai-shek transferred China's national capital from Nanking and carried on his anti communist resistance from Taipei. Had Chiang and his Nationalist Party leadership lost heart and sought political asylum abroad, as they could easily have done, Mao would have overrun Taiwan in a matter of weeks, perhaps days.

The sacrifices of Nationalist Chinese troops spared all Chinese on Taiwan, "native" and "mainlander" alike from Mao's Three Antis, Five Antis "struggle campaigns" chillingly depicted in "Farewell, My Concubine." From Mao's People's Communes, which tore infants from their mothers, from Mao's Great Leap Forward, which reduced millions to eating grass and tree bark before dying of starvation. From Mao's Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, which deprived an entire generation of Chinese youth of sound educations and promising careers.

Craven cowardice and rank ingratitude have a name. That name is Taiwan Independence.

What A-Bian Should Do

Chen Shui-bian should immediately agree to the "One China Principle." He should not acquiesce to it as if it amounted to an admission of defeat, but insist on it as a matter of principle. He should seize the initiative by calling for a truly historic summit with Jiang Zemin, to discuss in earnest and in detail how and when China should be reunified.

Chen should then exploit to the hilt his authority as president of the Republic of China, to demand even greater liberalization on the Chinese mainland, just as Kim Dae Jung, whom A-Bian claims to admire, has used his authority as president of the Republic of Korea to promote the liberalization of northern Korea.

In what has to be the ultimate irony, Chen Shu-bian is the sole political leader on the entire planet who has every right to lecture Jiang Zemin about "human rights, democracy, freedom of the press and freedom of religion" in China, whereas Leaders of the Free World William Jefferson Clinton and George Dubya Bush have no right whatsoever.

Here is why.

The ROC government in Taipei, according to the ROC Constitution Chen Shui-bian has solemnly sworn to uphold, is the sole legitimate government of China, including the Chinese mainland. This means ironically, that the separatist DPP, by succeeding the KMT as the ruling party of the ROC, also assumed a legal obligation to contest the CCP's rule in Beijing.

The Republic of China government was founded in 1911. The Peoples' Republic of China government was founded in 1949. The ROC government has seniority. The PRC government from the ROC perspective is a Johnny Come Lately, a pretender to the throne.

The ROC government, as arguably the more legitimate government of China, has the moral and legal obligation to promote the General Welfare of her citizens, not merely 23 million on Taiwan, but 1.3 billion on the mainland and 6 million in Hongkong to boot. Any criticisms A-Bian might direct against Beijing, providing he acknowledges the "One China Principle," would fall under the category of domestic policy debate between rival Chinese political leaders.

To demand Chinese reunification is not only NOT "surrendering to tyranny," it is an act of moral courage. It is seizing the moral high ground. To demand Taiwan independence on the other hand, is an abdication of moral responsibility. A Nobel Peace Prize and a place in history as a visionary peacemaker, alongside Willy Brandt and Kim Dae Jung await Chen. But only if he has the guts to defy separatist hate-mongers within his own party, and to seize this "dangerous opportunity."

Taiwan independence fundamentalists' attitude alas, can be summed up as, "We don't give a damn about 1.3 billion fellow citizens on the mainland. They're nothing to us. We'd rather go back to being a nominally independent puppet of an abusive former colonial oppressor, and pretend to be Japanese." Not even bona fide, first class Japanese, but ersatz, second class Japanese."

Now that is moral cowardice. That is surrender to tyranny.

Taiwan Independence, R.I.P.

Taiwan independence, in retrospect, was doomed from the moment of its conception. Only the timing of the Taiwan independence movement's sudden demise was unexpected, and caught everyone from Taiwan independence zealots to Chinese patriots off guard. Its collapse was as unexpected as the fall of the Berlin Wall and dissolution of the Warsaw Pact in 1989. Yet given the larger geo-economic forces arrayed against both, it was every bit as inevitable.

Taiwan independence is dead. It simply doesn't know it yet. Like the Bruce Willis character in M. Night Shyamalan's metaphysical thriller, "The Sixth Sense," the specter of Taiwan independence walks the earth, unaware it is no longer among the living. When comprehension finally dawns, the wedding ring will fall to the floor, and Taiwan independence True Believers will awaken to the shocking truth.

Taiwan Independence, Rest in Peace.

It will not be missed.

See:
International Trade and National Security

The Case against Taiwan Independence

The Case against Taiwan Independence
Not just the Numbers
Bevin Chu
October 30, 2000

Executive Summary: The case against Taiwan independence rests not just on the fact that an overwhelming majority of Chinese on Taiwan firmly oppose Taiwan independence. The case against Taiwan independence rests also on constitutional law and simple logic, considerations even more fundamental and compelling than just the numbers.

Taiwan Independence is Dead. Long live Taiwan Independence!

The Taiwan independence elite routinely asserts, with Alice in Wonderland logic, that "Taiwan is a sovereign and independent state, its current name is the Republic of China."

At other times they assert, with equal vehemence and perfectly straight faces, that "Taiwan has the solemn right to secede from China," and demand a United Nations supervised referendum/plebiscite as prelude to the founding of a sovereign and independent "Republic of Taiwan."

Never mind that their latter claim contradicts their former. Never mind that their latter claim amounts to an indirect admission their former claim is transparent self-deception. Never mind that if they genuinely believed they were already independent, they would not continue to demand independence. If the Taiwan independence elite had the scantest respect for the laws of man or logic they wouldn't be Taiwan independence zealots in the first place.

The Taiwan Independence Elite demands the Right to determine your Future

The Taiwan independence elite routinely insists that "The twenty-three million people who live on the island of Taiwan have a right to determine their own future."

When they make this claim on local Taiwan television, they usually affect an air of unassailable self-righteousness, with the unspoken implication they have surely seized the moral high ground.

In fact they have done nothing of the sort.

Taiwan independence advocates comprise a piddling 10% to 15% of Taiwan's population. Since Chen Shui-bian's inauguration, on air polls conducted by the major prime time TV talk shows reveal public sentiment against Taiwan independence running as high as 10 to 1, and never less than 7 to 1.

When the Taiwan independence elite claims "The twenty-three million people who live on the island of Taiwan have a right to determine their own future," what they really mean is "Two point three million Taiwan independence zealots who don't give a damn about real democracy have the right to determine the future of the twenty point seven million who disagree with them and vehemently oppose Taiwan independence."

When is an Opinion Poll not an Opinion Poll? When it's Taiwan Independence Propaganda

During WWII Japanophile Quisling Lee Teng-hui willingly, eagerly collaborated with Taiwan's brutal Japanese colonial occupiers, and wept when he learned Japanese Emperor and war criminal Hirohito had died.

During his 12 year long regime, Lee Teng-hui ordered the ROC's Ministry of Education to conduct frequent "polls," asking members of the ROC public "Do you consider yourself Taiwanese or Chinese?"

Lee's purpose in conducting these "polls" was not to collect data about citizens of the Republic of China for use by governmental policy makers.

Lee's purpose was to deliberately frame the Taiwanese/Chinese identity issue in the public imagination as an either/or choice. Lee's purpose was to systematically instill doubt in the minds of Chinese citizens on Taiwan about their Chinese identity. Lee's purpose was to precondition citizens of the Republic of China into thinking of themselves as citizens of a future defacto satellite of Japan to be known as "The Republic of Taiwan."

Fortunately, as recent, genuine polls reveal, he was less than completely successful in his efforts.

Ninety-One Percent of the Taiwan Public considers itself Chinese

On Thursday October 26, 2000, on "21:00, Quan Min Kai Jiang" or "21:00, Speaking Your Mind," a popular politically-oriented talk show, the question for the evening was:

"Who are we? Should the president's standard reply be: Taiwanese? Taiwan Huaren? Or Taiwan Chinese?"

For those unfamiliar with the current controversy raging on Taiwan, answering "Taiwanese" means the respondent considers him or herself "Taiwanese, neither culturally nor politically Chinese." Answering "Taiwan Huaren" means the respondent considers him or herself ethnically and culturally Chinese, but politically a foreign national, e.g., an ethnic Chinese Singaporean. Answering "Taiwan Chinese" means the respondent considers him or herself both Taiwanese and Chinese, e.g., both a Virginian and an American, with no conflict between the two.

Of the 8,543 viewers who called in, 657 or 8% said "Taiwanese," 106 or 1% said "Taiwan Huaren," and 7,780 or 91% said "Taiwan Chinese."

Surprised?

If you are, you've been exposed to too much Taiwan independence disinformation, disseminated by our "fair-minded," "objective," "unbiased" mainstream media.

Results such as these reveal that the Taiwan independence elite's contention that "Taiwanese are not Chinese," and "Taiwan is Taiwan, China is China," are bald faced lies. The Chinese people on Taiwan, to the consternation of their self-appointed nomenklatura, know damned well who they are.

They are Chinese. The name of their country is not "Taiwan," but China -- the Republic of China.

Ninety-Five Percent of the Taiwan Public opposes giving the DPP more Power

The week before, on Friday October 20, 2000, on the same program, the question for the evening was:

"The political scene is in chaos. Are you willing to help the DPP gain a legislative majority, allowing A-Bian [President Chen Shui-bian] to consolidate his power?"

Of the 16,710 viewers who called in, 806 or 5% said they were "willing," 15,817 or 95% said they were "unwilling," and 87 or 1% said they were "not sure."

Why did such an overwhelming majority of ROC citizens, 19 out of every 20, declare they were "unwilling?"

The answer is they are deeply concerned that with a DPP majority in the legislature backing him, A-Bian might be sufficiently emboldened to conveniently forget the solemn promises he made to them not to move toward Taiwan independence.

The Case against Taiwan Secession. Not just the Numbers

At this point defenders of Chinese national unity could simply declare victory, having proven decisively that Taiwan independence is contrary to the wishes of an overwhelming majority of Chinese citizens on Taiwan.

As favorable as the numbers are to Chinese reunification, the case against Taiwan independence does not rest solely on the indisputable fact that a democratic majority opposes Taiwan independence. The case against Taiwan "independence" or Taiwan secession also rests also on legal and logical foundations more fundamental and compelling than just numbers.

UN Referendum/Plebiscite? Fuggedaboudit!

In fact the UN supervised referendum/plebiscite on independence the Taiwan independence elite demands is not even an option. It is not an option because it is an international law proviso which applies only to colonies, or more accurately, "soon to be former colonies."

Taiwan does not qualify for a UN sponsored referendum/plebiscite because it is not a colony, but a province of China. Taiwan is an integral part of the Republic of China, a sovereign and independent nation founded in 1911 by Dr. Sun Yatsen, the "George Washington of China."

The Taiwan independence elite inadvertently conceded this fact when they attempted to hide its "Republic of Taiwan" wolf under "Republic of China" sheep's clothing, but instead painted themselves into a legal and logical corner.

That's the trouble with lying. No matter how clever you think you are, you can never keep your story straight.

The Taiwan independence nomenklatura, for all its affectations of reverence for "the democratic will of the 23 million people of Taiwan," secretly knows the score. They know if a permanent, legally binding, "let's be done with it once and for all" referendum/plebiscite were held on Taiwan today, they would be humiliated, and Taiwan would be reaffirmed as an integral, inalienable part of One Unified China.

Lucky for them no one is about to call their bluff.

For a thorough demolition job on the Taiwan independence nomenklatura's idiotic quest to become a member of the United Nations General Assembly as the "Republic of Taiwan,"

See:
Can Taiwan join the United Nations? by Herb Ho

Chen Shui-bian should instead demand that Bejing share China's UN Security Council seat with Taipei as part of the price of a negotiated reunification settlement with the Chinese mainland. Who knows? He might even receive a Nobel Peace Prize for demonstrating "the vision thing."

Sawing off the Branch One is sitting On

As the Framers of our American Constitution astutely observed, the people retain in perpetuity the right of revolution. The right of revolution is the right to throw out everything that went before and start over from scratch. The right of revolution is a fundamental right derived from nature, with logical and moral priority over man's law.

So far, so good.

The problem arises when the Taiwan independence nomenklatura, out of either ignorance or duplicity, conflates the fundamental right of revolution with the derivative right of referendum/plebiscite.

Many of the DPP's obdurately pro independence legislators boast advanced law degrees from highly respected European or Ivy League American law schools. Yet few if any of these ostensible legal experts grasp the critical distinction between the right of referendum/plebiscite, and the right of revolution. They have been educated, as the famous quip goes, beyond their intelligence.

The right of referendum/plebiscite under the Constitution of the Republic of China pertains only to routine matters of public policy, such as whether or not to build the controversial "Nuclear Four" power plant, and then only within the legal framework of the Republic of China.

This right of referendum/plebiscite may not be invoked outside the constitutional framework of the very same Republic of China from which its authority derives.

The Taiwan independence nomenklatura is comprised in large part of DPP Members of the Legislature of the Republic of China, elected in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of China, deriving any and all legal authority they might exercise from the Constitution of the Republic of China.

For them to demand a referendum/plebiscite overthrowing the Republic of China and establishing a Republic of Taiwan, while invoking legal authority derived from provisions within the Constitution of the Republic of China, is a constitutional law non-starter.

To invoke the legal authority of a political system one is simultaneously repudiating and attempting to overthrow, is akin to sitting in a tree while sawing away at the branch one is sitting on. It is akin to standing on a scaffold and taking a sledgehammer to it, all the while denying that the scaffold is the very thing holding you up.

See:
Taiwan Independence, Whim of an Elite
Mister Lee [Kuan Yew] goes to Taipei

Taiwan independence zealots are of course free to attempt to establish an "independent Taiwan nation" by exercising their right of revolution.

But they had better realize in advance that Chinese patriots have the equal right to prevent the disintegration of their nation, China, that "a revolution is not a dinner party" and sure as hell isn't a free lunch. And as recent polls make abundantly clear, Chinese patriots far outnumber Taiwan independence zealots, even if we count only China's Taiwan region and not the Chinese mainland.

Secession for Me but not for Thee

Secessionists typically assert that a self-defined subset of people inhabiting a self-defined geographical region on earth has the right to govern itself and need answer to no "higher" authority.

This proposition is either valid or it is not.

It can't be both. One can't have ones' secessionist cake and eat it too.

Yet this is exactly what almost all secessionists, including Taiwan secessionists, try to do.

Secessionists, with the exception of rigorously consistent, radical libertarian secessionists, almost never grand subsets of individuals within their own political entities the identical right of secession.

Once the prospect of political disintegration confronts them and threatens their "independent republics," tailor-made to suit them, they suddenly start singing a different tune, and cite the desperate overriding need for national unity, national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

What gives them the right to claim the "self-determination moral high ground," while simultaneously denying it to others who would secede from them?

If one purports to uphold "the right of secession" then one obligates oneself to really and truly uphold the right of secession, for anybody and everybody, everywhere and all the time. Otherwise one is merely tailoring the principle of "the right to secession" to legitimize nation-building on ones' own terms, not upholding a hallowed, universal principle.

Universal Secession versus Taiwan Secession

Taiwan secessionists rank among the most hypocritical. For example, the Taiwan independence elite objects to Beijing's unwillingness to renounce the use of force in its determination to nip Taiwan secession in the bud.

This is absolutely true.

What of it?

So are the Taiwan independence elite. They are equally unwilling to forswear the use of force. I have yet to encounter a single Taiwan independence advocate willing to renounce the use of force to prevent secession from their "independent Republic of Taiwan" should it ever become a reality.

Taiwan independence zealots have explicitly defined their "independent Republic of Taiwan" as "Tai, Peng, Kin, Ma," short for "Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu." They have said nothing about acknowledging the equal right of anyone who detests their "Republic of Taiwan," including Aborigines, Hakkas and "mainlanders," the solemn right to secede from it. They have said nothing about forsaking in advance the use of force to prevent secession from their precious "Republic of Taiwan" which would lead to its political dissolution.

And they never will.

Quite the contrary. Taiwan independence zealots have threatened to deal harshly with "Tai jian" i.e., "traitors to Taiwan" at the appropriate time. To get a sense of what they might have in mind for those they consider "Tai jian," one need only recall the 2-28 Incident of 1947, when Taiwan independence fanatics, working hand in glove with diehard Japanese Fifth Columnists, went on a week long rampage, slaughtering thousands of unarmed "mainlanders," including women and children.

Universal Secession versus American Empire

As a conscientious libertarian I myself endorse the principle of a radical, consistent, universal right of secession, more or less along the lines proposed by seminal Austrian economist Murray Rothbard.

Unfortunately in our less than perfect world, implementation is invariably selective and calculated to benefit certain political players, and not others. To Balkanize and weaken certain political entities, and not others.

If the Benevolent Global Hegemonists in our own nation's capitol were to practice what they so sanctimoniously preach to China, and renounce the use of force against fellow Americans who yearn to be free and independent of our own oppressive federal Leviathan, hundreds of libertarian radicals would promptly declare tiny plots of land to which they hold legal title to be independent republics. They would conduct referenda/plebiscites in which they voted themselves heads of state, and immediately cease paying taxes to the Internal Revenue Service of the United States of America.

If our federal Leviathan were to refrain from using force against this homegrown secessionist vanguard, as our meddling Washington foreign policy elites demand Beijing do regarding Taiwan, these independent republics would stand.

Witnessing their successful precedent, countless once apathetic members of the Great Silent Majority would promptly follow suit, and America would soon consist of thousands, even millions of tiny independent, or at least autonomous, republics, none of them paying a dime in taxes to the swarms of worthless parasites in Washington.

We all know of course none of this is about to happen.

That is not the point. The point is why such a scenario is so unlikely.

The reason is our own federal Leviathan itself refuses to renounce the use of force against those would secede from our American Empire.

Knowing full well what the IRS and the police would do to him or her, the average American citizen quite understandably calculates that the price of genuine liberty is simply too high and every April 14th obediently, meekly writes out a check for his or her unconstitutional but ever escalating federal income taxes.

Universal Secession versus The Great Game

When our foreign policy elites prattle on about "the right to self-determination" they are not talking about genuine respect for exalted universal principles, but about Rudyard Kipling's "The Great Game." They are talking about "We get to divide and conquer you, but you don't get to do it to us."

As long as this realpolitik status quo prevails, any foreign political leader would have to be a complete idiot to abide by such high-minded principles when everybody else is either ignoring them or selectively exploiting them to their geopolitical advantage.

Until Taiwan independence zealots and their fellow travelers in Tokyo and Washington are prepared to loudly, visibly, publicly endorse and abide by a universal right to secession, not merely for Taiwan and Tibet, but for Okinawa, Alaska, Hawaii and Texas, for cities, counties, towns and villages within Taiwan, they would do well to shut their mouths, as they have no right whatsoever to speak of the "self-determination moral high ground."

Mister Lee [Kuan Yew] goes to Taipei

Mister Lee [Kuan Yew] goes to Taipei
Bevin Chu
October 04, 2000

Lee Kuan Yew, Nemesis of Taiwan Independence?

If the fanatical TAIP, aka Taiwan Independence Party, aka "Jianguodang," is to be believed, Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore is the Nemesis of Taiwan Independence, the James Cameron T2 Terminator of Taiwan Independence. About twenty TAIP members, a significant percentage of the fringe party's membership, picketed the Taoyuan Westin where Lee Kuan Yew was a VIP guest and the National Palace Museum where his wife was a VIP visitor. Their angry banners read,

"Lee Kuan Yew, Betrayer of Taiwan, Get out!"

Talk about killing the messenger. Actually they were just getting warmed up. Taiwan independence "ji ben jiao pai" or "fundamentalists" from both the DPP and TAIP then went on the evening talk show circuit to rant incoherently against the venerable Senior Minister, a guest of ROC president Chen Shui-bian, who knew Lee when Chen was still Mayor of Taipei.

After enduring their diatribes one Taiwanese woman viewer phoned in and wondered why Taiwan independence zealots, who are in the quaint habit of referring to themselves as "Brave Taiwanese," were so anxious about what the former leader of the tiny city-state might say about Taiwan. Did they think Singapore was about to launch a military invasion of Taiwan?

Be Afraid. Be very Afraid

Actually the Taiwan independence zealots' concern may not have been entirely misplaced.

Taiwan independence zealots are worried that Lee Kuan Yew's utterances during his unofficial or "officially unofficial" visit to Taipei might be like the flapping of a butterfly's wings in Chaos Theory, generate a Perfect Storm halfway around the world, and bring down their Taiwan independence House of Cards.

For while the Senior Minister at age 77 is no spring chicken, his political vision remains a perfect 20/20. Lee Kuan Yew, the Sage of Singapore, in contrast with Lee Teng-hui, the Tinpot of Taiwan, sees with crystal clarity the utter futility of Taiwan independence. Lee Kuan Yew has never been one to mince words or pull punches, and like Jimmy Stewart in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," could easily have embarassed the Taiwan independence zealots under the full glare of the media spotlight, had that been his intent. It was of course not, and Lee Kuan Yew has since quietly returned to Singapore.

Reunification is Inevitable

As SM Lee told Asiaweek magazine, [September 22 , 2000, Vol. 26 No. 37 Asiaweek, "The Sage of Singapore"]

"If China does not disintegrate, reunification is inevitable. That's what I told president Lee Teng-hui. If China disintegrates, all bets are off, so why try to pre-empt? It's a matter of time for them to get the system changed. Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore will be useful to them for another 10 to 20 years because we still know bits and pieces which they do not know. In another two or three generations we may be learning from them. This is going to change the world, unless they implode, which I don't think likely."

This of course is the last thing Taiwan's Quisling elite wants to hear.

Motivated by unprincipled and shortsighted opportunism, Lee Teng-hui and his ilk sold out their own people and cast their lot with Taiwan's brutal colonizers, the Japanese. Having sold their souls to become ersatz, second class Japanese, the last thing Taiwan's Quisling elite wants to contemplate is the distressing prospect they might have bet on the wrong horse.

Selling One's Soul

The week before last Chinese historian Li Ao showed a remarkable photograph on his nightly TV talkshow, an ancient black and white photo of Chinese Quislings caught in the act of consumating their Faustian bargain with Taiwan's colonial oppressors. These Quislings stood in a circle around an chest high pile of wooden ancestral plaques. Surrounding this inner circle of Quislings was a second, larger circle of Japanese officials. These Japanese officials' duty was to witness the Quislings set fire to their ancestral plaques, to watch as the plaques turned to ash, to listen as the Quislings declared they were no longer Chinese and had always been Japanese.

The Quislings' reward for their soul-degrading self-abasement? Material comforts and political privileges denied the majority of courageous Taiwan Chinese who could not bring themselves to engage in such self-demeaning behavior, not to mention immunity from "comfort women" sexual enslavement if one was a woman or forced labor at the frontlines if one was a man.

See no Evil, Hear no Evil, Speak no Evil

Not surprisingly, when Japanophile Quisling No. 1 Lee Teng-hui was dogged by Taiwan reporters who demanded to know whether he thought Lee Kuan Yew's visit might be of help in restarting cross straits talks, he testily shot back, "No help!"

Not surprisingly, when Japanophile Quisling No. 2 Vice President Annette Lu learned of the Senior Minister's impending visit she sternly warned him not to "deliver information or influence people."

Optimistic predictions about China's future from Lee Kuan Yew are especially upsetting to Taiwan's Japanophile Quislings, because they contain the unmistakable ring of truth. Lee Kuan Yew, the Ludwig Erhard of southeast Asia, is not one to indulge in idle speculation. Lee Kuan Yew and his Peoples' Action Party led Singapore, a minuscule city-state of 3 million out of Third World poverty and into First World prosperity in a mere 30 years. Singaporeans currently earn even more per annum than Canadians.

Taiwan's Quisling Elite demands Taiwan Independence. Ordinary Chinese on Taiwan Don't

The Taiwan independence elite claims to have its finger on the political pulse of Taiwan, and claims that its elitist dream of an aptly named "ROT" or "Republic of Taiwan" is shared by the Taiwan public.

The Taiwan independence elite is half right.

The Taiwan independence elite does indeed know what the public on Taiwan wants. The problem for them is the Chinese people on Taiwan don't want what the Taiwan independence elite wants. The problem for them is the hearts of Chinese people on Taiwan do not beat to the Taiwan independence tune. And that makes them mad.

Eighty-seven Percent of Taiwanese affirm, "We are also Chinese"

On Monday September 25, 2000 for example, on "Er Yi Lin Lin, Quan Min Kai Jiang," a politically themed TV talk show hosted by Li Tao, Taiwan's answer to Larry King, copycat suspenders and all, the question for the evening was:

"Are Taiwanese also Chinese?"

Of the 5070 viewers who called in, 4399 or 87% agreed, 632 or 12% disagreed, and 39 or 1% were not sure.

For the record, Li Tao, host of "21:00, Quan Min Kai Jiang" which might be translated loosely as "21:00, The People Speak," makes little effort to disguise his own Taiwan independence sympathies, so he is hardly susceptible to the charge that he fudged the numbers to favor Chinese reunification.

Besides, Li Tao's show, as popular as it is, is hardly the only one of its kind. Viewer response on the other popular politically oriented primetime TV talk shows such as "Da Jia Lai Sheng Pan" ("You be the Judge"), "Ba Dian Da Xiao Seng" ("Big and Little Voices at 8:00"), and "Xiang Diu Lun" ("Relativity") during recent months has been virtually identical.

Taiwan viewers have repeatedly and soundly rejected the DPP's Taiwan independence agenda and vented mounting frustration with Chen Shui-bian's insincere foot dragging on resuming cross straits reunification talks.

Air Force One

Shortly after his inauguration, while inspecting a brand new Boeing 737 destined for service as the ROC's own "Air Force One," Chen Shui-bian invoked a lame metaphor about how Taiwan was an airliner and A-Bian was a Chuck Yeager Pilot with the Right Stuff who would fly 23 million passengers safely to their destination.

A-Bian's risible attempt to do a Ronald Reagan Great Communicator number elicited no little amusement among opposition party legislators, who piled on with extended tongue in cheek airplane metaphors of their own. In fact the most telling metaphor of all is that 23 million Chinese on Taiwan are nothing less than victims of an airline hijacking, and the Taiwan independence elite are their hijackers.

Citizens of the Republic of China have been dutifully paying taxes to the government of the Republic of China. Citizens of the Republic of China have been dutifully voting for candidates running for the office of President of the Republic of China. Citizens of the Republic of China paid good money for tickets on the understanding their seats were on a plane belonging to China Airlines, and their final destination, One China.

Little did they know that once aboard the air crew would suddenly remove their blue "China Airlines" uniforms to reveal green "Taiwan Airlines" uniforms underneath, and announce that "we have assumed control of the plane and shall be proceeding not to the destination indicated on your ticket, but to a new destination of our choosing. Next stop, Tokyo."

Or as mealy-mouthed DPP spokesmen have become proficient at "explaining" to incredulous ROC citizens, "Taiwan is a sovereign and independent country, its current name is the Republic of China."

Yeah, right. "And I'm Chow Yun Fat, internationally reknowned movie star from Hongkong, my current name is Bevin Chu."

As I said before, for 23 million hapless passengers of China Airlines Flight 2000, a hijacking is the only airplane metaphor that really resonates.

Ninety Percent of Taiwanese have No Confidence in Chen Shui-bian

On Friday September 22, 2000, on "Er Yi Lin Lin Quan Min Kai Jiang," or "21:00, The People Speak" the question for the evening was,

"Do you have confidence in the government of President Chen Shui-bian?"

Of the 10,814 viewers who called in, 1,000 or 9% said yes, 9,759 or 90% said no, and 55 or 1% had no opinion.

When A-Bian invoked his airliner analogy he was probably thinking Charleton Heston in "Airport." The ROC public on the other hand, was almost certainly thinking Peter Graves in "Airplane."

Seventy-four Percent of Taiwanese say DPP should not reject Reunification

On Wednesday September 13, 2000 on "Ba Dian Da Xiao Seng," or "Big and Little Voices at 8:00," the question for the evening was,

"Should the DPP as the ruling party continue to reject reunification?"

Of the 6,654 viewers who called in, 1,760 or 26% said it should, while 4,894 or 74% said it shouldn't.

Taiwanese 12 Times more satisfied with Chiang Ching-kuo than with Lee Teng-hui

On Friday September 1, 2000 on "Er Yi Lin Lin, Quan Min Kai Jiang" or "21:00, The People Speak," the question for the evening was,

"Chiang Ching-kuo, Lee Teng-hui, Chen Shui-bian: which of the last three presidents during the past 13 years are you the most satisfied with?"

Of the 10,993 viewers who called in, 8,662 or 79% answered Chiang Ching-kuo, 719 or 6% answered Lee Teng-hui, and 1,612 or 15% answered Chen Shui-bian.

These numbers are all the more astonishing considering "mainlander" Chiang Ching-kuo, whom Taiwan's quisling elite assures us was a ruthless dictator hated by all Taiwan Chinese, died twelve years ago, while "native Taiwanese" Lee Teng-hui, aka "Mr. Democracy" left office only four months ago.

So what happened?

Plenty. It didn't take long for "native Taiwanese" to figure out that while Lee Teng-hui might have been "one of us," so what? Lee Teng-hui was a Ferdinand Marcos crook who was robbing "us" blind. Chiang Ching-kuo on the other hand, while "from out of state" and an authoritarian to boot, was at least an honest authoritarian, a clean authoritarian, an uncorrupt authoritarian who genuinely cared about the well-being of the Taiwan people.

Score one for the Chinese people on Taiwan. Score zero for Taiwan's Quisling elite.

Who stands in the Way of Taiwan Independence? The Chinese People on Taiwan

Poll results such as these are clearly devastating to the Taiwan independence elites' transparent fiction, disseminated uncritically by our "objective" western media, by the New York Times, the Washington Post, Newsweek magazine, that the ROC public "yearns for Taiwan independence" and considers itself "Taiwanese, not Chinese."

On-air polls are of course, as I have freely acknowledged, not "scientific." No matter. Results such as these are fully consistent with other more "official" gauges of public sentiment, not the least of which was the recent presidential election.

In fact the Taiwan independence elites' conduct, which drowns out their words, is proof positive they know perfectly well how the ROC majority feels about Taiwan independence. That's why A-Bian campaigned the way he did, talking up his "New Centrist Path" and distancing himself from the DPP's pro independence party charter. That's why A-Bian solemnly promised, if elected, NOT to make the slightest move toward Taiwan independence. That's why the Taiwan independence elite sings one tune inside Taiwan to attract votes from a political center decidedly unenthusiastic about Taiwan independence, while singing a very different one outside Taiwan to perpetuate the false impression held by most westerners that the ROC public longs for an independent Republic of Taiwan.

Virtual China

Most American readers' reaction by now is, or ought to be, "There's got to be some mistake! This can't be right? Our mainstream media can't possibly be that wrong about Taiwan independence, can they?"

As libertarian anti-interventionists familiar with the real story behind Kosovo know, the answer is "No mistake. Our mainstream media has in fact gotten it exactly wrong." As John C. Dvorak of PC Magazine, a techie with no political axe to grind, put it in a June 17, 1997 op-ed piece, "My Trip to China":

"China was not what I expected... Let me say this: our media is doing a crummy job of keeping us abreast of what's going on over there... Anyone who thinks this is anything like Russia or the Eastern bloc is as wrong in their assumptions as is imaginable. I would advise you to go see for yourself what's really going on."

Dvorak is being far too kind. Our academia/government/media establishment has treated the American public with the same casual contempt that Christoff, the Svengali-ish media mogul played by Ed Harris, treated his unwitting puppet Truman Burbank, played by Jim Carrey, in the 1998 SF hit, "The Truman Show."

The ROC Military vs. Taiwan Independence

My father had to be hospitalized the week before last for an operation. He checked himself into a room at the Veterans' Hospital in Shilin. Both his roommates were diehard anti-communists, veterans of China's Civil War against Mao Zedong's PLA. I should have taped their remarks. They know who the real enemy of the Republic of China is, and weren't shy about sharing their views with anyone who would listen.

One hint: It ain't the PLA.

Just who is it that stands in the way of Taiwan independence?

Is it merely the ruling elite in Beijing? Is it "merely" 95% of 1.3 billion Chinese across the Taiwan Straits? Or is it every other officer, noncom and enlisted man in the Republic of China's armed forces on Taiwan?

Remember Mel Gibson's Scottish nationalist epic, "Braveheart?" Remember the scene where Irish troops unexpectedly defect from the ranks of Edward Longshank's English to join Braveheart's Scots? Pro Taiwan independence "China experts" and strategic analysts who drone on in authoritative tones about relative troop strengths and armament specifications are utterly clueless about what might in fact happen if Taiwan's Quisling elite provokes open warfare between Chinese soldiers on Taiwan and Chinese soldiers on the mainland.

A-Bian on the other hand, knows this. That's why immediately after his inauguration he dutifully rushed to every last military academy graduation ceremony on the island, frantically waving red, white and blue Republic of China flags and shouting "Zhong hua min guo wan shui!" or "Long live the Republic of China!" at the top of his lungs until he was red in the face. Let me tell you, pro reunification New Party, People First Party and Kuomintang Reform Faction members got some good belly laughs watching the pro independence A-Bian go through those motions!

Not that it did any good. The TAIEX just fell from a 52 week high of 10,393 to a new 52 week low, below the psychologically important 6500 support level. Poor A-Bian. He can't understand why nobody believes him. It couldn't have anything to do with the fact that four months after his inauguration he still can't bring himself to say three little words, could it?

"I... am... Chinese."

Read All About It

Singapore's Straits Times is currently featuring a special webpage dedicated to Lee Kuan Yew's newly published autobiography, "From Third World to First."

If there is something else I can do that would enable my fellow Americans to better understand how the Chinese people feel about Taiwan independence, than to turn them on to Lee Kuan Yew and Singapore's superb newspaper, The Straits Times, I can't imagine what it would be.

Read especially the segments on "Relations with Taiwan's Leaders," "SM Lee, the go-between," and "Deng Xiaoping's China," by clicking on the pulldown menu.

An hour devoted to Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew's uncannily perceptive political insights is worth a hundred squandered on scribblings by China-hating "China experts" such as William Triplett and Edward Timperlake, authors of "Year of the Rat" and "Red Dragon Rising."

The Orvillian Newspeak of Orville Schell

The Orvillian Newspeak of Orville Schell
Bevin Chu
September 14, 2000

Journalism Theory 101A: Quotations from Chairman Schell

"Nine-tenths of good journalism is writing a piece over and over until you get it right... Journalism is in peril... but what is possible is to send young journalists out into the world with at least the ability to know what writing with integrity is."
-- Orville Schell
"Schell set to beef up journalism school"
San Francisco Examiner, Sunday June 16, 1996

Journalism Practice 302B: Orvillian Newspeak

"The news is whatever I say is the news."
-- David Brinkley, former NBC Anchorman and media industry icon

"What is news? You know what news is? News is what you news directors interpret it as. News is what we at CNN interpret it as. The people of this country see the news that we think they oughta see."
-- Ted Turner, Founder of CNN

"We are going to impose our agenda on the coverage by dealing with issues and subjects that we choose to deal with."
-- Richard M. Cohen, former Senior Producer of CBS News

"Our job is to give people not what they want, but what we decide they ought to have."
-- Richard Salant, former President of CBS News

Who is Orville Schell?

Orville Schell is dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley and Vice-chairman of Human Rights Watch/Asia.

The San Francisco Chronicle describes Schell as a

"China expert, journalist, cattle rancher, human rights activist... Schell grew up on the East Coast in a well-to-do family with a commitment to social justice. His father started Helsinki Watch, the precursor to today's Human Rights Watch, and his brother Jonathan wrote ``The Fate of the Earth,'' an apocalyptic account of nuclear devastation, in 1982."

In other words, Orville Schell is both a journalist and an advocate. We should not be surprised therefore to learn that Schell is an "advocacy journalist," what libertarian media analyst Edith Efron termed a "News Twister." And an old money, east coast limousine liberal, to boot.

And why is He saying those Terrible Things about China?

Let's examine what "China expert" Schell has been saying about the subject of his purported expertise.

In an opinion piece entitled "China's Dysfunctional Public Relations Barrage," New York Times, September 2, 2000, Schell writes:

"As Beijing sees it, the reason China's diplomatic and trade relations with the United States don't always go smoothly starts with unfair American press coverage and hostile politicians in Congress. Still believing in the efficacy of political propaganda, the Communist Party hopes to change things with [a] public relations offensive.

China's leaders... export blame for China's less-than-perfect global relations, obscuring two crucial facts: China is no longer being preyed upon, and the means to solve many of its key international problems are actually in the hands of the government itself... suggesting that "hostile foreign forces" are the problem in hot spots like Taiwan, Tibet and Hong Kong is a curious abdication of the very sovereign power that Chinese leaders aspire to protect.

And externalizing the cause of problems preempts... initiative at home on their own... there is a larger ailment that this dose of public relations will not cure, and that is Beijing's anachronistic but stubborn tendency to see China's national progress as obstructed by foreign interference."

From Orvillian Newspeak to Ordinary English

Let's translate Schell's patronizing, innuendo-laden Orvillian Newspeak into plain English, the kind of unsubtle, unadorned text professional actors refer to as "on the nose."

Schell says American press coverage is not unfair and politicians in Congress are not hostile. And if they are, what of it? It's China's own fault. If the Chinese would just pay attention to us and do what we tell them, we might cut them some slack.

Schell says only Beijing is clueless enough to still "believe in the efficacy of political propaganda." Our own Pentagon/CNN Military-Media Industry Complex would naturally never attempt to "change things with public relations offensives."

Never mind that in 1995 Cassidy and Associates, retained by ROC president Lee Teng-hui for the princely sum of $4.5 million, greased enough palms in Congress to clear the way for Lee's politically-motivated "private" Cornell University trip, that Cornell admits receiving a $2.5 million donation from a "friend" of Lee Teng-hui afterwards.

Never mind that in 1992 Ruder Finn Global Public Affairs, hired by Croatia, Bosnia, and the Kosovo Albanians successfully circulated fabricated reports of massive rapes of Moslem and Croat women by the Serbs.

Never mind that in 1991 Hill and Knowlton, hired by Kuwait, successfully circulated "Wag the Dog" horror stories of Iraqi soldiers looting Kuwaiti incubators leaving Kuwaiti babies to perish on cold hospital floors, stories uncritically parroted by CNN, Amnesty International, and get this, Orville Schell's own Human Rights Watch.

See:
Are the Serbs Demons? by Benedict Neumann

Whom does Professor Schell think he's talking to? Does he imagine we are suffering from amnesia? Does he imagine we are like goldfish, who don't remember from one moment to the next how far we've swum?

A Chinese official introducing China's new exhibit suggested that "understanding between peoples is the most important thing to stress when discussing the relationship between two nations.''

See:
China brings its PR message to US, The Straits Times Interactive: East and SE Asia, September 7, 2000.

Uncontroversial, right? Platitudinous maybe, but hardly controversial, right?

Wrong. Beijing's "A Close Look at China" is what got Schell into his barely controlled snit, what provoked him to launch his preemptive strike against China even before the exhibit opened.

What was Schell's problem?

Schell's problem was Beijing had the cheek, the effrontery, the gall, to suggest that there might be a way to perceive China other than the way Schell's media/academia/government elite has ascertained is the correct way, the approved way, their way for Americans to perceive China.

What right did China have to cast doubt on The Gospel according to Schell? What right did China have to confuse the American public with half-truths? That was a right reserved for Schell's opinion-making elite. Schell actually entitled a June 29, 1997 New York Times article of his "What to Think About China." I kid you not.

Humanitarian Interventionists fancy themselves not only as "holier than thou," but also as "more conscious than thou." Certainly infinitely more conscious than the "clueless gerontocracy in Bejing."

In fact they flatter themselves.

Most media establishment insiders such as Christiane Amanpour and the good Professor are intellectual conformists, mediocrities who have never formulated a truly original concept in their life. Their value systems were absorbed unconsciously and uncritically from the intellectual mainstream around them. Their timidity when challenged to "think outside the box" is rivalled only by their defensiveness when other, more original minds confront them with heretical alternatives outside their zone of comfort.

The notion that perhaps the wisest, most farsighted policy for America might simply be to leave China alone, to allow China to succeed or fail, on her own terms, is simply unthinkable to these post-Woodrow Wilson, post-Teddy Roosevelt Babbit busybodies.

If Schell is as convinced that our American system of government is the finest in the world, as his Human Rights Watch moralizing implies he is, libertarian anti-interventionists challenge him to redirect his energies toward getting our own house in order, so that our American Experiment might offer a more convincing example to the rest of the world.

"Rogue nations," excuse me, "nations of concern" might even fall over each other in their rush to emulate us, without any need for us to hold a gun to their heads to persuade them of the error of their ways.

Who knows? Schell could experience a Road to Damascus conversion. But you'll forgive me if I don't hold my breath.

Schell says China "is no longer being preyed upon." When Chinese complain about foreign meddling in China's internal politics, they are merely diverting attention from their own failures. There are no hostile foreign forces creating problems for China in Taiwan, Tibet and Hong Kong.

No longer being preyed upon???

If you did a double-take here, if you're still picking your jaw off the floor, you're not alone.

Never mind that as recently as 1959 CIA black ops types supplied weapons, training and "advisors" to the "pacifist" Dalai Lama and instigated a violent uprising in China's Tibetan region.

Never mind that as recently as 1996, four short years ago, our Humanitarian Interventionist commander in chief dispatched two carrier battle groups to the Straits of Taiwan and in a brazen display of 19th century gunboat diplomacy sided with a separatist elite in a Chinese Civil War.

Never mind that as recently as 1999, just last year, he provided an encore by "accidentally" bombing the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade with precision laser-guided smart bombs delivered by a state of the art B-2 Stealth Bomber.

As the Wizard of Oz put it, "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain."

Schell says for China to complain when meddlesome foreign elites [which mind you, don't exist] persist in interfering in China's internal affairs is an "abdication of sovereignty." Presumably not complaining when foreign elites interfere in ones' domestic politics constitutes an "affirmation of sovereignty."

To top it off, Schell says Chinese who object to foreign interference "have an ailment," in other words, they are sick in the head. Chinese presumptuous enough to dispute Dr. Schell's diagnosis and demand a second opinion are being "stubborn" and their perception "anachronistic."

Just Shut Up and Bend Over

Schell warns us that, "Old notions of sovereignty are changing, and to gain permanent normal trade status with the United States, coexist successfully in a changed world and win global respect, China needs to look at new ways of relieving tensions."

Translation: China had better wise up to the way things are going to be under the New World Order. Or else.

As Strobe Talbot put it in a now infamous July 20, 1992 article "America Abroad: The Birth of the Global Nation" in Time Magazine, "The internal affairs of a nation used to be off limits to the world community. Now the principal of "humanitarian intervention" is gaining acceptance."

Jiang Zemin's speech at the United Nations Millennium Summit declaring that "Without sovereignty, there will be no human rights to speak of, that respecting the right of nations to run their own internal affairs is the principle of democracy as applied to world affairs" is sure to receive a failing grade in Professor Schell's compulsory course on "Human Rights under the New World Order."

As the good professor puts it, "Instead of trooping over to New York to engage in transnational propaganda, its leaders might better serve their country by staying home and seeking ways to reframe its relations, on its own, with both its own constituent parts and the larger world."

Translation: "Just shut up and bend over."

As Madeleine Albright told the NBC Television 'Today' show on 19th February 1998, "If we have to use force it is because we are America! We are the indispensible nation. We stand tall, and we see further into the future."

No translation needed.

The Real Problem: China has a Bad Attitude

Schell informs us that, "Anti-foreignism took root and was confirmed by the Japanese occupation in World War II. It was codified during Mao's revolution as Leninist anti-imperialism. In the fever of today's marketplace such revolutionary ideology has been muted... "

A century and a half of naked "might makes right" foreign aggression, summarized in one dry, lifeless sentence. Not even to provide historical context, which might evoke unwanted sympathy for China's point of view, but to establish Schell's controlling premise:

"China has a bad attitude."

Schell speaks of "anti-foreignism." He informs us "anti-foreignism" "took root," "was confirmed," "was codified" and is today "muted." Muted only because Chinese today are afflicted with "marketplace fever," which Schell makes sound like a bad thing.

"Orville Schell," his Berkeley predecessor Tom Goldstein assures us, "has worked at some of the highest levels of journalism for more than a quarter of a century and he is just full of wisdom and terrific ideas."

Either Schell is working at levels too high for us mere mortals, or else Schell has a problem communicating in plain English.

China was minding her own business in 1842 when the British Navy sailed halfway around the world, held a gun to China's head, and said "Buy my opium, or else," and "Sign over Hongkong, or else."

China was minding her own business in 1895 when the Japanese Navy sailed across the East China Sea, held a gun to China's head, and said "Sign over Taiwan, or else."

China was minding her own business in 1900, when the so-called "Eight Powers" held guns to China's head and said "Give us Treaty Ports, or else," and when Chinese resisted, murdered thousands, sacked the Summer Palace and looted it three ways from Sunday.

China was minding her own business in 1931, when the Japanese Army marched into Mukden, held a gun to China's head and said, "Sign over Manchuria, or else."

China was minding her own business in 1937, when the Japanese Army marched into Nanking and in two months slaughtered 300,000 unarmed civilians.

So what if foreign powers invaded China, extorted Chinese territory at gunpoint, murdered millions of her citizens, and treated others like second class citizens in her own land? None of those are the real problem.

The real problem is China has a chip on its shoulder. The real problem is the Chinese have a bad attitude.

Schell may be full of something, but it clearly isn't "wisdom and terrific ideas."

No Clear and Present Danger

During an intellectualcapital.com interview "Is There a Clear and Future Danger?" Thursday, June 26, 1997, former GOP presidential candidate Pete DuPont asked Tom Clancy, author of "Red Storm Rising" and numerous Cold War thrillers:

"Could China be a realistic fear? Ross Munro and Richard Bernstein's book "The Coming Conflict with China," has certainly captured the attention of many in the defense community. What do you think?"

Clancy's sharp, almost testy reply was highly instructive:

"How can we have a conflict with China? The Pacific Ocean's in the way and they don't have a navy."

See:
Is There a Clear and Future Danger?

The Monroe Doctrine and the Golden Rule

As Clancy astutely observes, if we have a conflict with China, it will be because our Benevolent Global Hegemonists deliberately went out of their way and crossed the widest ocean on the planet for the express purpose of picking a fight with a distant nation with which we don't even share a common border.

In other words, we are the ones provoking a showdown with China. China is not the one provoking a showdown with us. We are the aggressors, not the Chinese. We are the ones initiating force, not the Chinese.

Does anybody remember the Monroe Doctrine? Forget the Monroe Doctrine, does anybody remember the Golden Rule?

Neocon hawks posture as devout Christians, but seem to have forgotten Christianity's central ethical tenet, the Golden Rule, namely, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

Or as pre-Christian era Chinese ethical philosopher Confucius worded it, "Do nothing to others that you would not have done unto you."

We sent our navy 8000 miles west across the Pacific Ocean in 1996 and threatened China's Fujian coast. We got right up in China's face. We butted into a Chinese Civil War which has no bearing whatsoever on America's national sovereignty or territorial integrity.

China did not send her navy 8000 miles east to threaten our California coast. China did not get in our faces. China did not butt into our American Civil War in 1861, because it was none of China's business, having no bearing whatsoever on China's national sovereignty or territorial integrity.

As Charlie Reese, anti-interventionist columnist with the Orlando Sentinel lamented,

"We ought to be the good guys, and we aren't."

The Pentagon's New Global Enemy for the 21st Century

Andrew Marshall notes in a 30 August 2000 Independent piece entitled "The US is thinking itself into a new global conflict" that "The Pentagon's target, apparently, is China, the new global enemy for the 21st century."

"The US is thinking itself into a new global conflict. This time, it is not in Europe; it is in the Pacific... in a document called Asia 2025... the China threat, a nuclear power, one point two billion people the other side of the world, is satisfyingly Soviet-shaped and justifies... more heavy airlift, more sealift, more attack submarines, aircraft carriers and long-range bombers, not less... Of all of the projects spawned by the new "menace", the really big one is the National Missile Defence (NMD)... America says it is aimed at North Korea and Iran; it isn't, or at least not only at them. It is aimed at China, and maintaining US dominance in the Pacific."

See:
The US is thinking itself into a new global conflict

Red Corner? Or Red White and Blue Corner?

Remember "Red Corner," Jon Avnet's "Two Minutes of Hate" propaganda film, starring Richard Gere? Remember how Richard Gere had the premiere deliberately moved up to coincide with Jiang Zemin's state visit to America?

See:
Salon's review of Red Corner

In what has to be the supreme irony, our own federal law enforcement has been treating the hapless Lee Wenho almost exactly the way the Richard Gere character was depicted as being treated by a "human rights violating" Beijing government in "Red Corner."

In fact as American expats in Shanghai or Beijing can testify, American businessmen who run afoul of the law in China are not treated as depicted in "Red Corner," but are simply declared persona non grata and deported.

If Schell is serious about exposing xenophobia, or "anti-foreignism," as a menace to world peace and human rights, he need not look 8000 miles west across the Pacific.

He need only look at the neoconservative National Review and Weekly Standard, where primitive xenophobia and paranoia really do fester just beneath a thin outer skin of "civilized, scholarly discourse."

From Schell's ivory tower perch in Berkeley he need only look a few hundred miles southeast to Los Alamos, where a Kafkaesque nightmare is being visited upon American scientist Lee Wenho in the Land of the Free, Home of the Brave, where neocon "human rights champions," better known as lynch mobs, have brushed aside all concern for Due Process and Presumption of Innocence, and are shrieking, "Fry the spy!"

Or maybe that's a little too close to home?

Losing Face vs. Losing Territory

Schell writes,

"Far from losing face, China would gain nothing but world respect and gratitude if, for example, it could see its way to unilaterally renouncing the use of force in the Taiwan Straits and evince more respect for the right of Taiwanese to determine their relationship to the mainland. It would gain similarly if it could grant Tibetans a greater quotient of real autonomy and then encourage the Dalai Lama to return to Lhasa, and if it would permit Hong Kong the political latitude to elect its leaders in a truly democratic manner."

Schell's unsolicited advice to China about how she can curry favor with Schell's Humanitarian Interventionist nomenklatura is so Politically Correct and Conventionally Wise, therefore plain wrong, simply figuring out where to begin taking it apart is a challenge in itself.

First, Schell has it exactly backwards. What Schell should have said is,

"Far from losing face, America would gain nothing but world respect and gratitude if, for example, it could see its way to unilaterally renouncing the use of force in the Taiwan Straits and evince more respect for the right of Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to determine their relationship to each other. America would gain similarly if it could acknowledge her individual states a greater quotient of real independence, as is their constitutional right under the original Articles of Confederation."

The Taiwan region of China would not remain separate from the mainland were it not for our Benevolent Global Hegemonists and the Taiwan Relations Act. Taiwan and the mainland are being artifically held apart by active, sustained, ongoing US military intervention. Absent this foreign military intervention, the minority Taiwan independence elite would be forced to compromise and to negotiate in earnest for genuine autonomy, rather than to pay insincere lip service to reunification while stalling for time and plotting eventual independence.

Second, Schell is mighty cavalier about China's national sovereignty and territorial integrity. "Just let Taiwan and Tibet go," Schell opines, "Why be such a tightass? What's the big deal?"

Is Schell a champion of Southern Secession? American Indian secession? Of Alaskan independence? Hawaiian independence? Texas independence?

For a real eye-opener on just how the sovereign nation of Hawaii was colonized and annexed at bayonet point by the United States,

See:
The Overthrow of the Monarchy, by Pat Pitzer, Spirit of Aloha, May 1994, the in-flight magazine of Aloha Airlines

Is Schell prepared to allow California, as of this year over 50% Hispanic, to hold a plebiscite, secede from these United States and possibly be annexed by [or restored to, depending on one's point of view] Mexico?

Is Schell prepared to allow south Florida, overwhelmingly Cuban in population, to hold a plebiscite, secede from these United States and possibly even be annexed by a post-Castro Cuba?

Notwithstanding Schell's Strobe Talbot-esque political [as contrasted with economic] globalism, is Schell as cavalier about American national sovereignty and territorial integrity? Is Schell as willing, nay eager, to "just let Alaska, California, Hawaii, Texas go?"

If he is, can we anticipate Schell vocally demanding Alaskan, Californian, Hawaiian, Texan independence or autonomy? As vocally as he demands Taiwan and Tibetan independence or autonomy?

Why do I doubt it?

What's Good for the Chinese Goose is Good for the American Gander

Schell concludes with,

"The truth is that most solutions for what internationally bedevils China will not be found in New York because what needs fixing is in Beijing. What China needs is not better global propaganda, but bold new vision and leadership dedicated to recasting the way it imagines itself in the world. Whether the present leadership is imaginative or strong enough to undertake such a reappraisal is another question. But... China's leaders would have accomplished something to be truly proud of. Moreover, their world stature would soar and they would find that myriad other tensions, around issues like trade arrangements with the United States, would dissolve on their own."

Inverting Schell's unsolicited wisdom we get,

"The truth is that most solutions for what internationally bedevils America will not be found in Beijing because what needs fixing is in Washington. What America needs is not better global propaganda, but bold new vision and leadership dedicated to recasting the way it imagines itself in the world. Whether the present leadership is imaginative or strong enough to undertake such a reappraisal is another question. But... America's leaders would have accomplished something to be truly proud of. Moreover, their world stature would soar and they would find that myriad other tensions, around issues like trade arrangements with China, would dissolve on their own."

Amazing, isn't it?

A Remedial Class in American Values for Professor Schell

"Imperialism and nationalism are incompatible notions. A genuine patriotism entails respect for the patriotism of others. It is clearly incompatible with invading other countries, humiliating other countries or subordinating them to one's geopolitical needs. An American patriot loves his country, appreciates its system of government but accepts that it works very well only here. It is not for export, any more than Islamic theocracy or the Eastern Orthodox Church is. This is what differentiates the patriot from the imperialist. The empire builder is sure that his country has reached the pinnacle of civilization and therefore is obligated to impose it on the rest of the world."
-- George Szamuely
"Podhoretz's Paradox"
Decline of the West, July 6, 2000

Got it, Orville?

Why Pick on Schell?

Next to neocon warmongers Robert Kagan and William Kristol of the Weekly Standard, or Richard Bernstein and Ross H. Munro, authors of "The Coming Conflict with China," not to mention sundry crypto white supremacist websites on the net, liberal bleeding heart Orville Schell comes across as positively innocuous, a veritable Teddy bear.

So why pick on him?

Because China-baiters who have difficulty repressing and camouflaging their racial animus give themselves away, and thus limit the amount of mischief they are able to inflict.

Schell's cavalier misrepresentations of China's history and lazy stereotyping of the Chinese people, on the other hand, while every bit as biased as that of more strident China-baiters, come across as intellectually respectable, "scholarly."

Given that Schell's "kinder, gentler" China-demonization provides convenient intellectual cover for anti-China, anti-Chinese, and anti-Chinese-American bigotry, the mild-mannered, professorial Schell may turn out to be more, not less dangerous than the "Let's nuke Beijing!" thug with spittle dribbling out one side of his mouth.

Freedom and Democracy disappear in Taiwan

Freedom and Democracy disappear in Taiwan
Bevin Chu
August 31, 2000

Freedom and Democracy vanish from Taipei's "Tiananmen Square"

On August 22, citizens of the Republic of China woke up to discover that a row of familiar signs in front of Taipei's Presidential Palace had suddenly and mysteriously vanished, overnight. The eight giant signs which lined one side of Taipei's counterpart to Tiananmen Square for almost two decades, read "Zhi Yu Min Zu, Tong Yi Zhong Guo,"or "Freedom and Democracy Shall Reunify China." These eight Chinese characters were clearly visible in the background during Chen Shui-bian's May 20th inauguration ceremony. They appeared in electronic and print media images of the event held in Presidential Square.

What happened to them? Where did they go?

An AFP article which got zero notice outside Taiwan, but which was picked up by the English language China Post noted:

"The removal of the slogans sparked speculation over the new government's political intentions."

Freedom and Democracy are dead. Long live Freedom and Democracy

The removal of the slogans as it turns out, was indeed, "politically motivated." The signs reading "Freedom and Democracy Shall Reunify China" were demolished by Chen Shui-bian, who only three months ago at his inaugural ceremony stood before them and shouted:

"Long live freedom and democracy!"

Chen Shui-bian stood before them and said:

"The government should rule on the basis of majority public opinion. The interests of the people should reign supreme over those of any political party or individual... [I understand I must put] national interests above those of political parties... from the moment I take my oath and assume the presidency, I will put all my efforts into fulfilling my role as a "president for all people.""

Chen Shui-bian stood before them and said:

"I fully understand that, as the popularly elected 10th-term president of the Republic of China, I must abide by the Constitution... and ensure the well-being of all citizens... I pledge that during my term in office, I will not declare independence, I will not change the national title, I will not push forth the inclusion of the so-called "state-to-state" description in the Constitution, and I will not promote a referendum to change the status quo in regard to the question of independence or unification. Furthermore, there is no question of abolishing the Guidelines for National Unification and the National Unification Council."

Wow. Sounds pretty good. Almost as good as "Read my lips, no new taxes."

Freedom and Democracy, Victims of Collateral Damage

The Republic of China's 1991 "Guidelines for National Unification" read:

"the two sides of the Taiwan Straits should foster a consensus of democracy, freedom and equal prosperity, and together build a new and unified China."

The twenty year old signs A-Bian ordered demolished read:

"Freedom and Democracy Shall Reunify China."

Does anyone else smell a rat? Does anyone else suspect something is rotten in the State of Denmark? Does anyone else doubt A-Bian's sincerity? Anyone who has not been duped by warm and fuzzy sounding Taiwan independence propaganda knows exactly what happened.

Freedom and Democracy had to be sacrificed. They were hanging out with the wrong crowd, Reunification. One might say that Freedom and Democracy were "collateral damage" in the Taiwan independence elite's Jihad against the Satanic Forces of Chinese Reunification. As Madeleine Albright might argue, Freedom and Democracy were Chinese Reunification's "willing executioners."

The Taiwan independence elite's attitude is Freedom and Democracy are nice to have as long as they don't stand in the way of their precious "Republic of Taiwan." As long as Freedom and Democracy were useful in garnering sympathy for Taiwan independence, fine and dandy. After all, "Freedom!" and "Democracy!" go over big with well-meaning, gullible Yanquis. We can be counted on to write our windbags in congress and demand that by golly America is going to stand up for a "Free and Democratic Taiwan" against the Bogeyman from Beijing.

But just let Freedom and Democracy work against Taiwan independence, then watch out.

A Room with a View

Can't you just picture A-Bian, glaring petulantly out his office window at the hated second half of the slogan "Shall Reunify China," dying to take a blowtorch to it, but caught on the horns of a dilemma? Can't you just hear A-Bian, known for his bad temper, ranting at cowering flunkies:

"Am I going to have to see that goddamned slogan every time I look out my window for the next four years?"

A-Bian knew if he ordered only the last four characters "Shall Reunify China" taken down and the first four characters "Freedom and Democracy" left up, even an idiot would realize what he just did.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out what happened next.

"Freedom and Democracy" were immediately torched and hauled off to the scrap heap, right along with "Shall Reunify China."

Chen Che-nan, Acting Secretary-General to the President, [is that a great title for a brown-nosing flakcatcher or what?] then told the press the private industry group which underwrote the construction of the signs had requested they be torn down for safety reasons, a claim promptly and categorically denied by the group named.

Freedom and Democracy vs. What Really Matters

For the past 12 years Taipei's Quisling Nomenklatura has had no qualms whatsoever about nullifying the ROC electorate's freedoms and democratic institutions whenever they stood in the way of Taiwan independence. I'm not accusing Taiwan independence elitists of deliberately, systematically, maliciously setting out to extinguish every last spark of Freedom and Democracy on Taiwan. I'm merely pointing out that if one pays attention to what they do, instead of what they say, one quickly learns Freedom and Democracy don't rate very high on the Taiwan independence elite's shortlist of What Really Matters.

If you want to seehow quickly the Taiwan independence elite changes its tune when the Sanctity of the Democratic Process frustrates their Taiwan independence goals, look up "Taiwan's Little Emperors." The dirty little secret about Taipei's Quisling Nomenklatura is that its highest priority has never been Freedom and Democracy, but the establishment of a "Republic of Taiwan, Freedom and Democracy Optional."

Their aptly named "ROT" would in fact be a reincarnation of the puppet regime known as "Manchukuo," presided over by Henry Puyi, the "Last Emperor" depicted in Bernardo Bertolucci's epic of the same name. It would be independent in name but in fact a client-state of a rightist dominated Japan hostile to China first, and America second.

Chinese Bankers vote for Reunification

If you want to know what people want, don't waste time conducting surveys asking them "What do you want?" Most of the time what you'll get is not what they want, but their wish list for Santa Claus. What you'll get is what they would order for lunch if they know in advance somebody else is picking up the tab. What you'll get is what free market economists refer to as "moral hazard," irresponsible behavior detached from any serious consideration of the consequences of what happens when it comes time to pay the piper. The only time this rule does not apply is when a free lunch is not involved.

See:
Taiwan Independence and Free Lunches

If you're serious about wanting to know what people really want, don't ask them directly. Simply look at what they're willing to pay for out of their own wallets. "Money talks," as the vulgar expression goes, "and bullshit walks." If one earnestly wants to know how private Chinese citizens on Taiwan feel about Chinese Reunification, one need look no further than the "Freedom and Democracy Shall Reunify China" signs.

The twenty year old signs were a public service sponsored by the privately funded Bankers Association, which paid for their original cost of construction and annual maintenance. Taiwan's banking industry voted, with their NT dollars. Taiwan's bankers know only too well for Taiwan to have any economic future, it will be as an integral part of what American multinationals refer to as "Greater China."

Taiwan's Weighted Index or TAIEX fell another 273 points yesterday. From a 52 week high of 10,393, it closed at 7543, a new 52 week low. Taiwan's shareholders, who are overwhelmingly small, individual investors rather than large managed funds, are voting with their NT dollars, right alongside Taiwan's bankers. They too are casting a vote of "No Confidence." During the Cold War Douglas MacArthur referred to the island of Taiwan as "an unsinkable aircraft carrier in the western Pacific." Did I hear somebody say "Titanic?"

A Free Republic of Taiwan? Or a Republic of Taiwan, For Free?

If one asks Taipei's Quisling Nomenklatura, "What do you want?" They'll reflexively tell you they want a "free and independent Republic of Taiwan." If one asks Taipei's Quisling Nomenklatura, "What's wrong with One China comprising two equal but autonomous regions, the ROC and PRC?" They'll turn up their noses and dismiss any such suggestions as "unacceptable."

So far, no surprises.

But be so impolite as to overstep the polite bounds of "normal" conversation and ask them the personal price they're willing to pay to get what they want, or say they want, and watch their body language.

Ask them if they personally, are prepared to grab an M-16, volunteer for combat, and risk having their spinal column severed by a stray round out of nowhere, or their legs turned into a pink mist by the one antipersonnel mine that escaped their notice.

Ask them if they personally, are prepared to return from the front lines of a Chinese Civil War they provoked in a body bag, or live the remainder of their lives in a wheelchair.

Then watch them shift uncomfortably in their seats as they assure you "Of course I am."

You'll quickly discover that what Taipei's Quisling Nomenklatura wants is not a "free and independent Republic of Taiwan," but a "Republic of Taiwan, for free, dependent on the US Seventh Fleet."

Fraudulent, hypocritical lip service to Freedom and Democracy is the rotten tooth Taipei's Quisling Nomenklatura places under its pillow at night, with the expectation that a carrier battle group will be there next morning, courtesy the American Tooth Fairy.

Freedom Fosters Chinese Reunification

Citizens of the Republic of China demand freedom. But much to the chagrin of Taiwan's Japanophile elite, Chinese on Taiwan use their freedom to "fraternize with the enemy," i.e., their fellow countrymen on the Chinese mainland.

They demand the freedom to travel, ship freight, mail letters and packages directly to any and all regions of their own country, including the Chinese mainland. This freedom, commonly referred to as "San Tong," or "Three Links," is something Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait demand, as is their right as citizens of One China.

The lower 48 states belong as much to American citizens from Alaska or Hawaii as to residents of California or New York. Similarly, the Chinese mainland belongs as much to Chinese citizens of the Republic of China, as it does to Chinese citizens of the Peoples Republic of China.

Amazingly, some DPP politicians may be beginning to see the light. I say "may be" because it's too soon to tell if they really "get it" yet.

Xiamen is a port city in Fujian province, directly across the Taiwan Strait, the mainland province most Chinese on Taiwan hail from. "Taiwanese," so-called, is merely the Chinese dialect spoken in the Minan region of Fujian. Frank Hsieh, incoming DPP Party Chairman and Mayor of Kaohsiung recently declared matter of factly that, "Kaohsiung and Xiamen are two cities within the same nation."

No kidding! Will wonders never cease?

Chinese on Taiwan demand that Taipei's Quisling Nomenklatura respect ordinary Chinese citizens' right to invest in the Chinese mainland, build factories on the Chinese mainland, make religious pilgrimages to the Chinese mainland, visit relatives on the Chinese mainland, marry fellow countrymen from the Chinese mainland, bring their husbands or wives to Taiwan from the Chinese mainland. Citizens of the Republic of China demand that Taipei's Quisling Nomenklatura respect their right to do all these things and more without official harassment.

This right is being denied them by an arrogant political elite.

No, not by Beijing, which earnestly wants to bring the two sides closer together. But by Taipei's Quisling Nomenklatura, which does not, and which is determined to keep the two sides apart by hook or by crook, the will of the people be damned.

Lee Teng-hui's cross Straits "policy," euphemistically dubbed "jie ji, yong ren" or "avoid haste, be patient" has served no other purpose than to hinder, impede and obstruct the spontaneous reconvergence of the two halves of a divided China.

When Chinese on Taiwan firmly rejected Lee Teng-hui's autocratic "head in the sand" proscription against direct contact with their mainland brethren, Mr. Democracy's all too typical reaction was in essence "If you don't like it, you can lump it." The last thing in the world Lee Teng-hui and Taiwan's Japanophile elite want is for the two sides of the Taiwan Strait to spontaneously merge back with each other.

When Freedom conflicts with Taiwan independence, Freedom goes while Taiwan independence stays.

Democracy Fosters Chinese Reunification

Citizens of the Republic of China value "democracy," or to be more precise, what George Washington and most of our Founding Fathers preferred to call "republican government." But much to the chagrin of Taiwan's Japanophile elite, the Chinese people on Taiwan favor reunification with mainland China.

Earlier this week on "Da Jia Lai Seng Pan," or "You Be the Judge," a popular viewer call-in show on GTV, the on-air survey question asked was "Do you favor reunification, independence, or the status quo?"

Out of 6,840 viewers who phoned in and voted, 4,858 voted "reunification," 1,792 voted "independence," and 190 voted "status quo."

That works out to 71% in favor of reunification, 26% in favor of independence, and 3% in favor of the status quo.

On air polls are of course not scientific, but results like this are quite typical, provide useful anecdotal evidence about mainstream sentiment, and are entirely consistent with the results of the March 18 presidential election, when 61% of the vote was split between four candidates who favored reunification.

The 71% figure for viewers supporting reunification is especially revealing, since even DPP officials concede that a substantial percentage of the 39% who voted for Chen Shiu-bian were not endorsing Taiwan independence, but merely wanted to rid themselves of "Mr. Democracy" Lee Teng-hui's rampant corruption. These voters voted for Chen only because Nobel Laureate Lee Yuan-tse, advisor to Chen Shui-bian, assured them Chen would not foment Taiwan independence and reignite a still unresolved Chinese Civil War, but devote his energy to cleaning up corruption.

Let's glance at the numbers:

71% - 61% = 10%
39% - 10% = 29%

The 26% who phoned in and voted for independence closely approximates A-Bian's 39% plurality, minus an estimated 10% to 15% who liked the sound of A-Bian's anti-corruption pledges but who do not endorse Taiwan independence.

These figures are all the more astonishing when you consider that fact that Lee Teng-hui has for the past twelve years misdirected the immense financial and political resources of the Leninist KMT party/government machinery into brainwashing the ROC public into thinking of itself as "Taiwanese, not Chinese." Lee Teng-hui, like Mao Zedong before him, learned to his dismay just how persistent Culture with a capital C can be, how badly Culture can trip up the dirigiste ambitions of sundry self-appointed social engineers and "nation-builders."

Four years ago "Mr. Democracy" Lee Teng-hui and Chen Shui-bian successfully blocked a New Party election reform bill requiring an either an absolute majority or else a run-off election. This March 18 A-Bian squeaked by with a 39% plurality. A run-off election would have put the immensely popular pro reunification former Taiwan Provincial Governor James Soong in the president's office.

When Democracy conflicts with Taiwan independence, Democracy goes while Taiwan independence stays.

Freedom and Democracy will reunify China

The Taiwan independence elite has been selling Taiwan independence as if Freedom and Democracy on Taiwan justified, even necessitated Taiwan independence. Libertarians who follow Sino-American relations have probably detected a predictable spin imparted to mainstream media news articles and opinion pieces [what's the diff?] dealing with Taiwan independence. Their spin goes something like this:

"Taiwan [never the ROC] is drifting away from China [never the PRC]. Taiwan is developing its own distinctively Taiwanese political and cultural identity."

Sound familiar?

The truth, with almost boring predictably, is just the reverse.

Freedom and Democracy on Taiwan, and eventually the Chinese mainland, will reunify China. Absent artificial constraints imposed from the top down by insolent Taiwan independence "nation builders," the mainland's geographical proximity, the pressures of economic globalization, China's venerable and durable cultural traditions, would draw the two sides of the Taiwan Strait toward each other like a pair of powerful magnets.

The Taiwan independence elite knows this, and doesn't like it one bit.

This is why they have engaged in Orwellian historical revisionism with a Japanese twist for the past decade, frantically rewriting Taiwan's primary and secondary school textbooks to indoctrinate Chinese children on Taiwan into admiring Japan and despising their own country, China. Not even the best aspects of Japan, of which there are many, her fine arts for example, but the worst aspects of Japan, her fanatical militarism.

Neoconservative and liberal Taiwan independence fellow travelers are not going to suddenly pretend they don't appreciate the significance of this kind of control of the public school curriculum I hope?

Lee Teng-hui camouflaged his unsavory neofascist Japanophilia under a garment labeled "Freedom and Democracy," and got away with it for 12 years. Hapless Chinese citizens on Taiwan could only grit their teeth as ignoramuses within our mainstream western media canonized Lee as "Mr. Democracy."

A-Bian has no Room for Error

"A mediator between Beijing and Taipei has revealed that former President Lee Teng-hui was opposed to reunification all along, although he gave the impression that he supported the move."
-- Ching Cheong
"Alas, Beijing believed Taiwan's ex-leader"
The Straits Times Interactive, Aug 20, 2000

Lee is now a fading memory. Now comes A-Bian.

Chiu Yi-ren, one of the younger generation of DPP officials, agrees with what New Party officials have saying for years. After being jerked around by Lee Teng-hui for 12 long years, Beijing has completely run out of patience. Consequently "A-Bian has no room for error."

Let's hope A-Bian understands the destructive folly of his predecessor's example, of paying insincere lip service to peaceful reunification by day, while fomenting ugly separatist hatred by night.

Let's hope A-Bian is not "pulling a Lee Teng-hui" when he says,

"Under the leadership of Mr. Deng Xiaoping and Mr. Jiang Zemin, the mainland has created a miracle of economic openness... Today, as the Cold War has ended, it is time for the two sides to cast aside the hostility left from the old era. We do not need to wait further because there is a new opportunity now for the two sides to create an era of reconciliation together... we believe that the leaders on both sides possess enough wisdom and creativity to jointly deal with the question of a future "one China."

Freedom is making a comeback, and Democracy is making a debut on mainland China

Liberal Democratic former president Jimmy Carter and conservative Republican former House Speaker Newt Gingrich have both traveled to mainland China and confirmed that village level elections on the Chinese mainland are the Real McCoy.

[Not that it's any of our business of course.]

Let's hope Freedom and Democracy don't bow out on Taiwan even as they make their appearance on the Chinese mainland, just because they happen to have "creative differences" with a Quisling elite's dream of Taiwan independence.