China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
August 28, 2015
Executive Summary: The 2016 election campaign is heating up. Cross-Strait issues have become the hot topic. Pro-Mainland China and anti-Mainland China clashes are proliferating. Interestingly enough, Tsai Ing-wen herself has deliberately avoided reunification vs. independence controversy. On cross-Strait policy, she talks about "maintaining the status quo". She expresses sympathy for the students who oppose school curriculum revision. She also distances herself from the comfort women issue and the students who oppose school curriculum revision. Former President Lee Teng-hui, Tsai Ing-wen's erstwhile mentor, has been shrilly proclaiming that "Diaoyutai belongs to Japan", and "Japan is our motherland". He has precipitated a new wave of "Sinophobic civil war". Lee is a politically experienced strategic thinker. He is not the "senile old man" most of the media portray him as.
Full Text Below:
The 2016 election campaign is heating up. Cross-Strait issues have become the hot topic. Pro-Mainland China and anti-Mainland China clashes are proliferating. Interestingly enough, Tsai Ing-wen herself has deliberately avoided reunification vs. independence controversy. On cross-Strait policy, she talks about "maintaining the status quo". She expresses sympathy for the students who oppose school curriculum revision. She also distances herself from the comfort women issue and the students who oppose school curriculum revision. Former President Lee Teng-hui, Tsai Ing-wen's erstwhile mentor, has been shrilly proclaiming that "Diaoyutai belongs to Japan", and "Japan is our motherland". He has precipitated a new wave of "Sinophobic civil war". Lee is a politically experienced strategic thinker. He is not the "senile old man" most of the media portray him as.
Lee Teng-hui has been arguing that "Diaoyutai belongs to Japan" for years. But he chose this moment to raise the ante by praising Japanese colonial rule. His assertion that "Japan is our motherland" was motivated by darker strategic considerations. Japan's right-wing conservative Abe regime has been aggressively championing collective self-defense and new national security laws. He has been racheting up his rhetoric regarding the Chinese mainland. Lee's remarks have rallied anti-[Mainland] China elements on Taiwan. Lee has forced people to choose sides on the sensitive issue of sovereignty. He has intensified pro-Mainland vs. anti-Mainland polarization on Taiwan.
The Diaoyutai Islands dispute is a dispute over sovereignty. Lee's affirmation of Japanese colonial rule is a matter of historical record. It is how he feels about it. Strictly speaking, unconditional affirmation of Japanese colonial rule is a hard sell. Even pro-Taiwan independence historians dare not express such extreme views. At most they say Japanese rule exhibited both colonialist and modernist traits. That perhaps qualifies as an affirmation of Japanese colonial rule. But as far as the claim that "Japan is our motherland" goes, Lee Teng-hui is the first politician to make that claim, and will probably be the last.
Lee's affirmation of Japanese colonial rule is not an isolated political stance. It is intimately linked to Lee's repudiation and rejection of Mainland China. Many who sing the praises of Japanese colonial rule concede that Japanese rule was foreign rule. But they argue that Japan modernized Taiwan more thoroughly than China modernized the Mainland. They argue that Japan modernized Taiwan more thoroughly than the Qing Court or the Kuomintang modernized Taiwan. Japan's colonial rule may be a historical fact. But the purpose of singing the praises of Japanese rule over Taiwan is to incite hatred against and intensify opposition to Mainland China. The deeper purpose is to intensify opposition between older generations of so-called "native Taiwanese" who lived under Japanese rule, and so-called "mainlanders" who resisted Japanese military invasion. Its purpose is to label those who are critical of Japanese colonial rule and who affirm resistance against Japan as "pro-China", and to label those who affirm Japanese rule and are critical of resistance against Japan as "native Taiwanese" who "love Taiwan" and "oppose China". The goal is to marginalize pro-China, pro-reunificaiton forces.
Lee Teng-hui is a skilled political strategist. He knows that as long as he raises these issues, he will silence skeptics of Tsai Ing-wen's "maintaining the status quo". He knows he will bring alienated Taiwan independence elements back into the fold. Meanwhile, given Ma Ying-jeou's values, the Ma administration is certain to blast Lee's ideas full force. Given Taiwan society's current indifference to reason and ubiquitous anti-Ma sentiment, the great majority will remain silent. Moderates within the green camp will refuse comment. As a result pro-China, pro-reunification elements will be isolated.
This "Sinophobic civil war" continues to heat up day by day. What Taiwan needs is a merger of pro-China, pro-reunification forces at the grassroots level. Such a pro-China, pro-reunification force must not be equated with blue vs. green political reunification vs. independence. In fact, many traditional supporters of the green camp, even major figures, believe in a rational middle way. They are willing to acknowledge the rise of Mainland China. They hope that cooperation between Taiwan and the Mainland will benefit both sides of the Strait. They feel the two sides should cherish their common culture, history, and national identity. The late Yu Teng-fa was an older generation green camp political leader, and a triad head in Kaohsiung. Although he was a victim of KMT political repression, he championed cross-Strait reunification. In his later years he even served as honorary chairman of the Alliance for the Reunification of China.
The late Su Tung-chi was an advocate of Taiwan independence and a former political prisoner. HIs son Su Chi-hao has repeatedly reminded the DPP that cross-Strait policy is the party's blind spot. He says the DPP "persists in spinning its wheels and clinging to its rigid ideology". He says the DPP "lacks the vision, heart, and intellect to fling the doors open and gaze upon the future". For Su Chi-hao, Taiwan independence was mother's milk. Yet he argues that "the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are both part of the same nation." He urges "the maintenance of cross-Strait stability, guaranteeing a half century of peace". He has long believed that "cross-Strait cooperation benefits both sides, while confrontation harms both sides". These are not isolated examples. In an atmosphere of rising Taiwan independence sentiment, many knowledgeable members of the green camp find it difficult to say what they really think. But in fact their ideas continue to grow within our native soil.
More and more young people believe that Taiwan cannot afford to remain complacent. It must cease barricading itself behind closed doors. Human resource surveys have repeatedly shown that on Taiwan, the younger a person is, the more willing he is to visit the Mainland, face its challenges, and take advantage of its opportunities for education and employment. The younger a person is, the more willing he is to avail himself of the resources of the Mainland to flex his muscles, to help Taiwan prosper, and to benefit both sides of the Strait. This sort of thinking is perfectly normal for many young people. Politically speaking "Sinophobic civil war" may have considerable market appeal. But practically speaking, those who think the two sides should abandon confrontation and seek win/win not only exist, their numbers are growing.
Pro-China and pro-reunification forces are merging and growing, not for myopic electoral advantage, but for Taiwan's long-term survival and prosperity. Not for fleeting political passions, but for the sake of solidarity among Chinese people the world over. This is the new social movement that befits Taiwan's entry into a new era.
看破李登輝激化反中力量的伎倆
2015年08月28日 中國時報
選戰加溫，兩岸關係議題也開始加溫，
李登輝主張「釣魚台屬於日本」已久，但選擇在這段時間丟出，
如果說釣魚台爭議是現實性的主權爭議課題，
「日本殖民統治肯定論」在政治攻防、
精於政治謀略的李登輝深知，只要他拋出這一連串的議題，
面對政治領域日益高漲的「仇中民主內戰」，
已故的台獨政治犯蘇東啟，其公子蘇治灝就一再撰文提醒民進黨：
越來越多年輕人認為台灣不應故步自封，不能再自我閉鎖，
合中力量的凝聚與發展，不是為了一時的選舉，
No comments:
Post a Comment