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Impertinent
interference or friendly concern?
By James Wang 王景弘
Taiwan has had a locally elected government for two decades now, and its
democracy has gone from strength to strength. We all thought that the days of
politicians accusing outsiders of interfering in internal politics had been
consigned to history some time ago. That is, until a spokesman for President Ma
Ying-jeou (馬英九) — in response to suspicions raised by 34 academics and writers
from the US, Canada, Australia and other countries about the timing of a probe
into more than 30,000 documents that allegedly went missing three years ago
under the former Democratic Progressive Party administration — called it
“reckless interference.” This is the kind of language one would expect from
China.
Accusations of “reckless interference” from outsiders is part of the lexicon of
dictators the world over. During the martial law period under Chiang Kai-shek
(蔣介石), suppressing democracy and depriving people of their rights were called
“governing according to the law.” Questions by other countries about the
appropriateness of government suppression, arrests and courts martial, along
with calls for an end to martial law, were met with accusations of “reckless
interference.”
People overseas are similarly concerned about human rights in China, expressing
empathy for the victims of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, supporting Tibetan
independence, objecting to China’s suppression of “Charter 08,” awarding the
Nobel Peace Prize to jailed writer Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波) and, more recently,
protesting the arrest of the artist Ai Weiwei (艾未未). In each of these cases,
Beijing’s standard response is foreigners “don’t understand the situation,” or
are “recklessly interfering” with “the rule of law” in China.
The Ma administration has apparently stooped to using the language of the
Chinese communists and Chiang Kai-shek, showing just how far democracy, human
rights, justice and fairness have receded in Taiwan over the past three years.
For the government to accuse individuals from other countries, who have shown
themselves to be longstanding friends of Taiwan and its democracy, of not
understanding the situation and of “reckless interference,” is more ridiculous
and reprehensible than Beijing’s behavior. Taiwan depends on international
concern and support for its security and independence.
Chiang and his son, Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), had the support of the US Republican
Party for their anti-communist stand, while accusing the Democrats of “reckless
interference” in internal affairs. Former presidents Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and Chen
Shui-bian (陳水扁) had the support of both the Democrats and Republicans for their
efforts in establishing and developing democracy in Taiwan and for standing up
against the communists, and therefore had no call to accuse anyone of
interference as an excuse to neglect their responsibilities.
The Ma administration has tossed aside the gains Taiwan has made — which secured
US support for its democratic and anti-communist policies — and rudely dismissed
comments made by the nation’s longstanding friends. The result is that
Republican support has dissipated and the Democrats have lost hope for Taiwan,
leading to a number of US academics, who have placed their hopes in China, and
several former US officials, in the name of US interests, advocating sacrificing
Taiwan as a way to improve ties with China.
Making enemies of the allies of Taiwanese democracy and human rights under the
twin banner of “rule of law” and “governing in accordance with the law” just
reveals the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for what it is: an anti-democratic
organization willing to sacrifice Taiwan and collude with the Chinese
communists.
James Wang is a political commentator.
TRANSLATED BY PAUL COOPER
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