Water Spinach? Or Hairpin Turn?

Water Spinach? Or Hairpin Turn?
China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC) 
A Translation 
June 3, 2016

Executive Summary: De jure Taiwan independence is difficult to achieve. Using cultural Taiwan independence as a tool will only destroy both Taiwan and the Republic of China. The mild-mannered KMT may be no match for the DPP, with its ability to turn on a dime. But the DPP's flip-flopping will destroy the fundamental values that enable Taiwan to survive. Lest the DPP forget, when Taiwan is no longer susceptible to reason, but subscribes to the premise that “Might makes right”, how will Taiwan persuade the Mainland to listen to reason, and distinguish right from wrong?

Full Text Below:

Before the election, Tsai Ing-wen was widely known as "kong xin cai", because she obdurately refused to let voters know where she stood. This pun on her name compared her to water spinach, which is hollow on the inside. The implication was that she lacked substance. Following the election, Tsai Ing-wen acquired a new nickname, “fa jia wan”, or “hairpin turn”, because she made one policy reversal after another. So is Tsai Ing-wen water spinach? Or is she hairpin turn? Perhaps she is both. During election campaigns she is water spinach. Upon gaining power, she is hairpin turn. What does this mean, and how does this affect the future? The question is worth contemplating.

The water spinach label is already firmly attached to Tsai the Candidate. Nothing more needs to be said about that. The DPP has been in power only 10 days, yet its hairpin turn policy reversals are already common knowledge. The DPP long opposed US pork imports. But as Tsao Chi-hung, who was preparing to assume the position of COA chairman demurred, "We are hardly in a position to reject US pork imports”. After which Tsao quickly changed the subject. Premier Lin Chuan reneged on DPP pledges to oppose electricity rate hikes to the bitter end. He announced "gradual increases in the future". The list of such policy reversals is endless. The DPP government's “false yesterday, true today” policy flip-flops are truly too numerous to list.

If the DPP hairpin turns were confined to public policy, that would be bad enough. People could fault the new government for changing its position merely because it changed its status. They could resign themselves to the necessary evils of democracy. They could realize this fact about politicians, learn a bitter lesson, and avoid the same mistakes in the future. But the DPP's hairpin turns include matters of national identity, national orientation, and moral integrity. No matter whether the DPP's hairpin turns were a means to an end, or ends in themselves, they constitute moral degradation and foretell Taiwan's decline.

During Tsai Ing-wen's May 20 inaugural ceremony, she solemnly swore to "abide by the Constitution… If I violate my oath, I am willing to accept the nation's harshest punishments". As President of the Republic of China, she has a duty not merely to abide by its constitution, but also to defend its historical perspective. Instead, we see Tsai Ing-wen concocting a "History of Indigenous Peoples". The new government's very first move was to prevent badly needed corrections to school history texts. The DPP has long blasted the KMT for accepting the label “Chinese Taipei”. They claimed that taking part in international activities under the name "Chinese Taipei" betrayed the people of Taiwan. But recently, when the new government attended the WHA, it dared not mention the term “Taiwan”,or even ask its allies' support in using the term “Taiwan”. The DPP's hairpin turns are betrayals of the nation and its constitution.

Everyone should respect the Aboriginal historical perspective. By the same token, everyone should  respect the Hakka historical perspective, or the Hoklo historical perspective. But as head of state, Tsai Ing-wen must respect and defend the Republic of China historical perspective. Tsai Ing-wen surely realizes that the history of the Republic of China includes the May Fourth Movement, unification, resistance against the Japanese, civil war, and the transfer of the nation's capital to Taiwan. All of these are part of Chinese history and Chinese territory, which include Taiwan, but are by no means confined to Taiwan. Yet upon taking office, the new government immediately changed history texts to read “Taiwan's relations with China” instead of “cross-Strait relations”, in defiance of the authority of the Control Yuan. Put simply, the new government is attempting to misrepresent history in order to sever all links between Taiwan and Chinese history, even with the Republic of China prior to 1949.

Reunification and independence are political choices. They need not be moral issues. But when a political party or an individual pretends to respect a nation's constitution, even as it undermines that constitution, when it uses the Republic of China name, even as it repudiates the Republic of China, then it becomes a moral issue. Tsai Ing-wen swore an oath as President to defend the Republic of China. But as DPP Chairman Tsai Ing-wen refuses to forsake the DPP's Taiwan independence party platform. What sort of political image does that convey?

The DPP considers elections everything. As long as one wins elections, one is Politically Correct. As long as one is Politically Correct, one may “interpret” the constitution and rewrite history any way one pleases. The KMT has been routed. Therefore the DPP feels no guilt or remorse for its 180 degree policy reversals. It does not care that it is undermining respect for the morality and integrity essential for a functioning society. Its rule is "Winner take all, and the devil take the hindmost". Since the DPP is the winner, it may do what others may not.

Before the new government took office, DPP legislators drafted the "Cross-Strait Agreement Oversight Regulations". They changed “two nations” to “both sides of the Taiwan Strait”. The new government was not afraid of the KMT. It was afraid it would anger the CCP. The new government's representative to the WHA dared not use the term “Taiwan”. He dared not ask allies to use the term “Taiwan”. There is only one explanation for this. The new government was afraid rule violations a PRC complaint would prevent our delegation from participating in this conference or even the next. This exemplifies the DPP's "Winner take all, and the devil take the hindmost" mentality. It understands full well the nature of political power. It knows that "when under another's roof, one has no choice but to bend". When the DPP was in the opposition, it used any argument available to discredit the ruling KMT. But now they are up at bat, and are willing to do anything to survive.

De jure Taiwan independence is difficult to achieve. Using cultural Taiwan independence as a tool will only destroy both Taiwan and the Republic of China. The mild-mannered KMT may be no match for the DPP, with its ability to turn on a dime. But the DPP's flip-flopping will destroy the fundamental values that enable Taiwan to survive. Lest the DPP forget, when Taiwan is no longer susceptible to reason, but subscribes to the premise that “Might makes right”, how will Taiwan persuade the Mainland to listen to reason, and distinguish right from wrong?

People who truly love Taiwan, hope that President Tsai, who swore allegiance to the "Republic of China Constitution", will go from Water Spinach to Hairpin Turn, and finally morph into a "loyal defender of the Constitution".

社論－空心蔡乎？髮夾彎乎？
2016年06月03日 04:10 主筆室

選舉以前，外界認為候選人蔡英文是空心菜，永遠不表明自己的真正主張與立場。選舉後，外界又感覺總統蔡英文是髮夾彎，她究竟是空心菜或髮夾彎？或兩者皆是。選舉空心菜、施政髮夾彎代表什麼現象？未來影響如何？值得思辨。

空心蔡印記早已牢牢刻在候選人蔡英文身上，就不多談，民進黨執政僅僅10餘天，髮夾彎現象幾乎已成為社會共同認知。民進黨長期反對美豬開放，農委會主委曹啟鴻上任前一句「哪有能耐不開放」，後來又有轉彎的談話；林全院長一改當年民進黨誓死反電價上漲，做出「未來緩漲」的宣示，還有更多類似事件就不細表。民進黨政府昨非今是，真是「罄竹難書」。

如果髮夾彎只是公共政策立場的轉向，民眾除了批評新政府「換了位置就換了腦袋」以外，也只能摸摸鼻子，無奈接受民主制度的必要之惡，下次認清政客的本質，學乖一點，別再受騙就是了。但是如果髮夾彎涉及的是國家認同、國家方向、道德誠信等問題，髮夾彎不論是「工具論」或「目的論」，都是道德淪喪，更是台灣沉淪的奪命彎。

蔡英文在520就職時，莊嚴宣誓「必遵守憲法，……。如違誓言，願受國家嚴厲之制裁。」作為中華民國的總統，不僅應該遵守憲法，也應該捍衛中華民國的史觀。但民眾看到的是，蔡英文在就職演說中提出要建立「原民史觀」，新政府教育部的第一項政策就是廢除課綱微調。以往批評國民黨政府接受「中華台北」（Chinese Taipei）名義出席國際組織是背叛台灣人民，但是新政府出席WHA時，不僅在發言時不敢提Taiwan，還不敢要求友邦聲援支持我方時使用Taiwan。這些髮夾彎的背後，是對自己的國家與憲法，也是對自己以往堅持的最大欺騙與否定。

任何人都應該尊重「原民史觀」，同樣地也應該尊重「客民史觀」或「閩民史觀」，但是作為國家元首，卻必須尊重與捍衛「中華民國史觀」。蔡英文應該知道，中華民國史觀包括五四運動、統一、抗日、內戰、遷台，它是中國歷史的一部分，領土包括台灣，但絕不僅等於台灣。新政府上任立刻用行政力量廢除一個經法院及監察院都認為沒有不法程序的課綱微調，重新以「台灣與中國的關係」書寫兩岸關係。簡單地說，新政府要從史觀的認同上，徹底切斷台灣與歷史中國、台灣與1949年前中華民國的連結。

統與獨都是一個政治選擇，不涉及誰是誰非的道德問題，但是任何政黨或個人，嘴巴上說要尊重憲法，所做的卻是淘空憲法；打著中華民國國號，但卻是在為否定中華民國累積能量，就是一個最基本的道德問題。作為總統的蔡英文宣示要捍衛中華民國，但是作為民進黨主席的蔡英文卻不願意放棄民進黨的台獨黨綱，這是一個什麼樣的政治圖象？

民進黨深信選舉才是王道，只要贏得選舉，就等於政治正確，憲法由其解釋，歷史由其書寫。面對一個已經遭其徹底擊潰的國民黨，在髮夾彎的道路上，民進黨沒有一絲愧疚或懺悔，不在乎是否已經破壞了社會最需要的道德與誠信，而認為「成王敗寇」才是政治的金科玉律，將「別人不可以，但是我可以」視為勝利者的座右銘。

在新政府上任之前，民進黨立委就自動將《兩岸協議監督條例》草案中，原本堅持的「兩國」改成「兩岸」，這只有一個解釋，新政府不是害怕國民黨，而是擔心觸怒中共。新政府代表在WHA中不敢堅持使用Taiwan，不敢要求友邦聲援時使用Taiwan，也只有一個解釋，就是擔心主辦單位以違反規定為由，或遭到中共代表抗議，致使代表團無法順利與會，甚而影響下次的參與。這充分顯示，「成王敗寇」思維的民進黨，充分了解「人在屋簷下，不得不低頭」的權力政治本質，在野時任意批評詆毀，輪到自己上場，為了偷生苟且也無妨。

將法理台獨作為目的難以成功，將文化台獨作為工具只會讓台灣隨著中華民國的精氣被吸乾而一起滅亡。溫良恭順的國民黨或許不是髮夾彎的民進黨的對手，但是翻雲覆雨的髮夾彎卻會摧毀台灣的基本價值。民進黨更別忘了，當台灣不再講道理，只相信權力就是公理時，未來台灣拿什麼去與對岸講道理、爭是非？

作為真愛台灣的台灣人，期待宣誓效忠《中華民國憲法》的蔡總統，能從「空心蔡」經過「髮夾彎」進化為「忠誠的憲法捍衛者」。