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Tsai’s views are mainstream
Saturday, May 29, 2010, Page 8
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ying-wen’s (蔡英文) statement
that the ROC is a “government-in-exile” should not be immediately condemned by
the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for its own campaign purposes (“Tsai blasted
for ‘government-in-exile’ remark,” May 27, page 1).
While the minister of the interior said some academics used to refer to the
government as a “government-in-exile,” this term has in fact been used in
articles published by a long list of respected media such as the BBC, the New
York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Time magazine, as well as the British
parliament, the US State Department and Stanford University.
They used this term when referring to the decades-long martial law period
following the Republic of China’s (ROC) relocation of its government to Taipei
in December 1949 after losing the Chinese Civil War.
Nowadays, the ROC is still widely regarded as part “government-in-exile,” part
“rump state.” The difference is that a government-in-exile is unable to exercise
its legal power, while a rump state also claims to be the legitimate sovereign
power of the reduced territory it occupies. Of course, the legitimacy of the
occupation in 1949 is questionable, but Tsai made it clear that today the
ROC/Taiwan is a legitimate sovereign power.
It should also be mentioned that a government-in-exile usually operates under
the assumption that it will one day return to its native country and regain
power. As President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) referred to China as ROC territory in a
Japanese magazine interview in 2008, this further fulfills the definition of a
government-in-exile.
While the ROC controlled Taiwan for decades under martial law, the Chinese
characteristics pushed onto the people of Taiwan are now finally being
superseded by Taiwanese characteristics. Consequently the Taiwanese
characteristics are becoming the mainstream, while the ROC is now regarded as a
democratic Taiwanese nation. Even the UN refers to Taiwan as a state. Tsai is
therefore emphasizing how Taiwan must continue to move in this direction rather
than regressing to the ROC authoritarian era. She is promoting Taiwan’s
sovereignty under the name ROC/Taiwan, as it is viewed today, rather than the
former ROC authoritarian regime. While the Ma administration continues to
believe that China is part of ROC territory, the DPP is promoting Taiwan’s
independence from the People’s Republic of China. She therefore respects both
nations as independent.
The reason the Ma administration is worried about Tsai attracting deep-green
supporters (in addition to her existing supporters) is because she is
proclaiming Taiwan to be an independent country with its own national identity.
While the KMT accuses her of making this claim for campaign purposes, it looks
more like it is trying to take her remarks out of context and condemning her for
its own campaign purposes.
Tsai also made clear that the past few decades have brought back Taiwan’s
democratic movement, which finally made the ROC legitimate and sovereign. Is
there anything she said that contradicts the mainstream view?
Alex Raymond
Kaohsiung
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