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Republicans Dana Rohrabacher, co-chairman of the Congressional Taiwan Caucus, and Jim Ryun, also a Taiwan Caucus member, introduced a joint resolution in the US Congress on May 20 calling for Taiwan to send marines to fight in Iraq. Surprisingly, this matter has drawn a strong reaction from the pan-blues, who are asking the government whether there have been any underhanded dealings. Some people have also protested in front of the offices of the American Institute in Taiwan, and even trampled the US flag.

If it hadn't been for the US Seventh Fleet patrolling the Taiwan Strait in 1950 to stop the Chinese Communist army [from attacking Taiwan], the signing of the US-Taiwan Mutual Defense Treaty in 1954 following the Korean War and Congress passing the Taiwan Relations Act to take responsibility for Taiwan after China and the US established diplomatic relations in 1979, would Taiwan be what it is today? Would Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan and People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong have their current status? Still, this resolution has caused a storm of anti-US sentiment. Leaving aside the fact that such behavior ignores past US assistance to Taiwan, what could be the purpose of such deliberate and calculated attempts at sowing discord between the US and Taiwan?

Some China "experts" in the US have lately behaved as if China's armed threats and attempts to aggravate cross-strait tension were new to them. They have been busy finding fault with Taiwan's legitimate resistance and democratic developments, which they say are provoking China. They have even accused Taiwan of involving the US and hinted that the US should renounce its role in protecting Taiwan.

If, therefore, Taiwan could send troops to Iraq, it would serve to strengthen the US-Taiwan military relationship and create a stronger deterrent to China, much like the relationships between the US and South Korea and between the US and Japan. While the US keeps South Korea and Japan under its protective umbrella, South Korea and Japan help the US by sending troops to Iraq.

By sending troops to Iraq, Taiwan would manifest the sincerity of its stance on the anti-terrorism issue, placing itself in sharp contrast to China, whose idea of anti-terrorism is simply a matter of opposition to Xinjiang independence. China is constantly finding ways to obstruct the US' Iraq policy.

According to information obtained by Amnesty International, Chinese specialists sent to Guantanamo Bay to interrogate suspected Xinjiang separatists instructed the US in techniques for extracting confessions. The US imitated these methods without regard for human rights.

It will of course be difficult to have the resolution passed. Even if it were passed by Congress, it would be blocked by the White House, which would not want to anger China. This posturing, however, will still be a warning to China not to take rash action. Who would have expected that the pan-blues would react even before China had offered a response?

Even if Rohrabacher and Ryun had never introduced the resolution, it would only be right for forward-looking experts in Taiwan to make preparations for such an eventuality. It was therefore necessary for the relevant departments within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to arrange a symposium to solicit suggestions. Moreover, PFP Legislator Nelson Ku was also invited to present his ideas to the symposium, so it was no secret.

The politicians now doing the most to disrupt the US-Taiwan relationship are members of the PFP. With important members of the PFP sending their children to live and work in the US, this makes us wonder why, instead of wanting a closer US-Taiwan relationship, they feel that the more conflict there is, the better.

Understandably, there are of course those who start out with good intentions and an anti-war stance in the hope of sparing the sons and daughters of Taiwan from dying on the battlefield. But when compared to the losses Taiwan would sustain if it were to send troops to Iraq, there is no telling how many more lives would be lost and how much higher other losses would be if Taiwan lost US protection.

The Chinese scholar Xin Qi, with his past in the Chinese army, has said that China will "beat Taiwan to a pulp, and then rebuild her" and that missiles will mainly be aimed at the south of Taiwan, because that is where President Chen Shui-bian finds most of his support. We should remember Lien's campaign promise that conscription will be cut to three months, which aims to win over young voters. This is the same as telling China that Taiwan will be short of soldiers. What are these people thinking when it comes to the issue of preventing a Chinese invasion?

Unfortunately, it isn't even certain that the US would want Taiwanese troops in Iraq even if Taiwan were willing to send them. The US declined when Chiang Kai-shek wanted to send troops to South Korea during the Korean War. But as long as Taiwan shows its sincerity, it will have a positive effect on US-Taiwan relations. The US should be happy that Lien and Soong were not elected, because if they had been, the US would sooner or later stand to lose an ally.

China's government has not only ignored the conciliatory tone of President Chen Shui-bian's inauguration speech, but has recently started to target and harass pro-green Taiwan businesses in China. This is the result of a power struggle among the Chinese leadership and of China's need to slow growth and restructure the economy.

There have now been three presidential elections in Taiwan, and attempts by Beijing to influence the outcome of each have proven ineffective. The idea of "one country on either side of the strait" has become accepted among Taiwan's grassroots, and this year's election result has confirmed "Taiwanese consciousness" as the majority opinion. The conflict between Beijing and Taipei has therefore entered a new stage.

In Beijing, the Jiang Zemin camp and that of Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao are now at each other's throats. In order to ensure a smooth succession, the latter have been forced to discard their gentler tone toward the Taiwan question and to compete with Jiang in adopting a hardline position.

The menacing aspect of those involved in Taiwan affairs and the official media is an indication of difficulties created by the struggle for succession. The harsh language used by the Taiwan Affairs Office, the People's Daily and Xinhua News Agency succeeds superficially in putting down Taiwan, but what it really indicates is that the realization of the Chinese people's dream of democratic reform is receding ever further into the distance.

Targeting the Chi Mei Group is another ploy in China's psychological war that is played out through the manipulation of political dogma and by singling out prominent figures. It is little different from the methods used by the Chinese imperial court in times past, in which one official would be executed to set an example for the rest.

As China has overtaken the US as Taiwan's main export market, Taipei's political sensibilities are continually at the mercy of Beijing's maneuvering. But trade runs both ways, and capital's movement powerfully shapes interactions between nations. Given the degree to which China is dependant on Taiwanese businesses and the extent that multinational companies permeate their markets, the threats that Beijing has leveled against the Chi Mei Group are reminiscent of the actions of the Society of Harmonious Fists during the Boxer Revolution. While these threats indicate internal pressures within China's government, the ultimate result may impact upon that nation's financial structures, which are already rife with problems. If this slow-moving giant starts to wield his club, it is more likely that he will hit himself in the head rather than strike his more nimble opponent.

Yet this unwieldy club deters westward expansion by Taiwanese businesses. This helps the Chen administration, which wants to widen trade on an international basis. It has also given force to former President Lee Teng-hui's adherence to the insightful policy of "no haste, be patient" , and awoken the world to the dangers of investing in China, countering its recent image as an unstoppable economic juggernaut.

China's massive bureaucracy is corrupt and unprofessional. Its leaders must adopt macro-economic controls on investment to prevent a chain reaction that will bring down its financial system. But with its overdependence on foreign investment to fuel growth, China is being pulled in opposing directions.

A fundamental principle of political strategy is to "find the right pretext to wage war " . Chen has a firm handle on the discourse of "peace," an issue that China, Taiwan, the US and other leading powers are all constrained to respect. Now that Taiwan has achieved a consensus about facing China's threats with docility, even as China chooses to play the club-wielding giant, the time of awakening has come for the international community.

Taiwan's economic miracle has been widely recognized both at home and abroad. Now some people are complacent about the success of Taiwan's democratization, calling it a political miracle.

I believe it is too early to call Taiwan's democratic transition a political miracle. First, those who call it a miracle mistakenly believe that it happened miraculously in a short time, from the later years of Chiang Ching-kuo's reign through the 12 years of Lee Teng-hui's presidency and into Chen Shui-bian's first term. This period included such events as the abolition of the Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of National Mobilization for Suppression of the Communist Rebellion, the lifting of martial law, the amendment of Criminal Code Article 100 and direct popular election of the president.

Yet these visible historic events were preceded by many years of social ferment, sacrifice and struggle during which the social support for democratic transition was amassed. The transition has not happened miraculously in a short period of time, so to call it a political miracle is misleading.

Next, there is much dispute among political scientists about whether Taiwan is a fully democratized country. Many believe that Taiwan's democratic transition has not been complete ("consolidated"). Many scholars of democratization point out that unconsolidated democracies can devolve or even collapse. So it is definitely too early to call this democratic transition a political miracle.

Some scholars believe that the democratic transition became complete when Chen won the nation's second direct presidential election in 2000 to oust the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government that had governed for over half a century. Yet upon closer examination, Taiwan's democracy currently faces three crises.

First, while a study found that three-fourths of survey respondents said they felt they had the power to affect the way the country is governed through the electoral and legal system, two-thirds of this sample said they thought that the government was not responsive to their concerns. This indicates that Taiwan's political process may lack an important feature of liberal democracy, namely multiple and ongoing channels for expression and representation of the public's interests beyond political parties and elections.

In addition, there are significant flaws in the way the elections are conducted. Informal institutions and channels such as corruption, local factionalism, personal connections, political clientelism and organized crime ("black gold") play substantive roles in the process of political representation. Vote-buying is still widespread and few candidates voluntarily abide by rules governing campaign funds and spending, as laws governing campaign violations are ineffective. Negative campaigning crowds out positive campaigning in most elections, and the law has little or no way of changing this.

Democracy's second obstacle is that while the law provides citizens with many liberties and rights, few laws effectively keep public authorities from committing unsavory deeds for political and personal motives. For example, at various legislative levels -- particularly the Legislative Yuan, the country's highest representative body -- members can do or say almost anything they want, exhibiting the most degrading and despicable behavior and voicing outright lies. Naturally this phenomenon is a matter of the legislator's personal qualities and moral discipline, but it also relates to the lack of legal restraints.

As another example, people can assert their rights to freedom of expression and assembly, but when they obviously cross the publically acceptable boundaries of such rights and freedoms, the authorities often fail to take action to preserve order. A case in point was the activities and behaviors of the pan-blue demonstrators on Ketegalan Boulevard after the presidential election.

A third barrier to democracy's consolidation is a lack of consensus on national identity. Domestically, the issue of national identity has been distorted, manipulated and unjustifiably portrayed as a matter of ethnic harmony, social stability or democratic rights. Externally, the national identity issue deprives Taiwanese of a unified position toward China's political, economic and military threats, undermining domestic and foreign policies.

Without a consensus on national identity, Taiwan has no clear statehood. As political scientists Juan Linz and Alfred Stepan write, "Democracy requires statehood. Without a sovereign state, there can be no secure democracy." Among countries that are undergoing democratic transition, Taiwan is a unique case in this regard. (Hong Kong has a similar problem, but Hong Kong is not a sovereign state.)

The change of government represents a very significant milestone in Taiwan's history and democratization. As such, Chen bears the great responsibility of installing the rule of law and firmly establishing national sovereignty. Until then, Taiwan's democracy is not miraculous but precarious.

A former top Hong Kong official has denounced China for ruling out full democracy in the near-term for the territory and compared Beijing's handling of demands for free elections with China's violent Cultural Revolution.

During the decade-long revolution unleashed by the late leader Mao Zedong in 1966, millions of people suspected of opposing the communist government were persecuted, often by their own neighbors and colleagues.

Beijing in April ruled that Hong Kongers cannot directly elect their next leader in 2007 and all lawmakers in 2008 despite growing calls for universal suffrage. The move drew sharp criticism in Hong Kong and abroad.

Anson Chan, who retired as Hong Kong's No. 2 official, or Chief Secretary for Administration said "the manner in which the central government has handled this whole issue, coupled with its public rhetoric and posturing reminiscent of the Cultural Revolution, have left most Hong Kong people puzzled, hurt and frustrated."

Chan, who is still highly popular, urged Beijing to trust Hong Kongers, saying its fears that the territory will turn into a base of subversion are groundless.

"We have no wish to push for independence nor to destabilize the mainland," she wrote. "We ask our leaders in Beijing to put a little more trust in us. That trust will not be misplaced."

China has claimed that full democracy could breed social and economic instability in the former British colony that was returned to Chinese rule in July 1997 with constitutional guarantees of Western-style civil liberties for at least 50 years.

Taxidermic Pachyderm
Students from Wang Fang Elementary School dance to welcome the arrival of the preserved elephant Lin Wang at the Taipei City Zoo yesterday. The famous animal died last year at the age of 86 and has been stuffed to keep alive the public's memories of the giant mammal.