China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
October 10, 2016
Executive Summary: Today is the birthday of the Republic of China. It is also the anniversary of its third change in ruling parties. Everyone including President Tsai Ying-wen, Kuomintang Chairman Hung Hsiu-chu, and civil service and military personnel, are prepared to celebrate the national birthday, by the numbers. The general public is also celebrating the National Day holiday. But many wonder how many more celebrations of the Double Ten National Holiday the future holds.
Full Text Below:
Today is the birthday of the Republic of China. It is also the anniversary of its third change in ruling parties. Everyone including President Tsai Ying-wen, Kuomintang Chairman Hung Hsiu-chu, and civil service and military personnel, are prepared to celebrate the national birthday, by the numbers. The general public is also celebrating the National Day holiday. But many wonder how many more celebrations of the Double Ten National Holiday the future holds.
For the Republic of China, birthdays are indeed increasingly harder to celebrate. Internally the Democratic Progressive Party advocates the establishment of a "sovereign and independent Republic of Taiwan". Externally, the People's Republic of China, which divided the Republic of China in two 66 years ago, is emerging as the world's second-largest economy. It is attempting to keep pace with the United States and lead the world. The Chinese Communist Party, which leads the People's Republic of China, is willing to engage with the Chinese Nationalist Party, but it refuses to recognize the Republic of China. This has increasingly shrunk Taiwan's international breathing space. Today, when everyone is preoccupied with whether Ma Ying-jeou and Chen Shui-bian will attend the National Day celebration, it may be worth considering how Sun Yat-sen would feel if he could be here.
These are dark times for the Republic of China. Both the green camp and the red camp seek to end the Republic of China. Alas, they have found that the dimmer the light of the Republic of China shines, the more turbulent cross-Strait relations become, and with it, the gloomier the future of Taiwan. In a tempest tossed Republic of China, interaction between the two sides and the three parties is paradoxically essential to the survival of Taiwan and the Republic of China. The continued existence of the Republic of China is conducive to the stability of the two sides, as well as Taiwan.
Consider the subtle relationship between the three parties and the Republic of China. We need not discuss the KMT. For the Kuomintang, the Republic of China is inviolate. We can instead analyze the necessity and importance of the Republic of China to the Chinese Communist Party and the Democratic Progressive Party.
First consider the perspective of the Chinese Communist Party. In "1911, Sun Yat-sen led the Xinhai Revolution, abolished the feudal monarchy, and founded the Republic of China." Unless one is reminded specifically of the fact, one might assume this passage is the preamble to the Republic of China Constitution. In fact, it is the preamble to the People's Republic of China Constitution. It clearly explains the origin of China's legal system. Mr. Sun Yatsen founded the Republic of China. The Constitution of the People's Republic of China considers Sun Yat-sen's Xinhai Revolution the source of modern China's legal system. It merely added, "But the historic duty of the Chinese people to defeat imperialism and feudalism remains incomplete".
The constitutional basis is not hard to find. The People's Republic of China, founded in 1949, may be a new government, but it is not a new nation. The nation is China. China has existed for many millennia. The Republic of China is modern China. It is the original entity, the main body. The Chinese Communist Party created a split in this original entity, this main body. The Constitution of the People's Republic of China considers this split the result of an historical duty to "oppose imperialism and feudalism".
The Mainland has called for peaceful reunification for nearly half a century. It has gradually realized that its own long-term rejection of the Republic of China has been the Taiwan independence movement's biggest booster. But the existing political consciousness has plunged it into a dilemma. It is unwilling to recognize the Republic of China, but it cannot deny the danger of refusing to recognize the Republic of China.
Both sides of the Strait hope to maintain peace and prosperity. The relative strengths of the two sides has changed. Rational consideration suggests that peace and prosperity are conducive to peaceful reunification. The Mainland side must face the fact that when the Republic of China shrinks or disappears, the vacuum will not be filled by the People's Republic of China, but by the Republic of Taiwan. In other words, leave aside the Republic of China for the moment. For the Mainland side, cross-Strait relations would be even more dangerous and move even farther from the Mainland's "great cause of reunification".
Now consider the DPP perspective. In Tsai Ing-wen's inaugural address, she declared that "I have the responsibility to defend the sovereignty and territory of the Republic of China, in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of China". But most of the time Tsai Ing-wen is unwilling to use the term " Republic of China". Her cultural and educational policy is quite clear. It is to sever all connections to Chinese culture and Chinese history. She has reiterated that she would "respect the constitutional system of the Republic of China". But in her letter to her DPP comrades, she explained that she was doing so grudgingly, because she was "fettered by the constitutional framework".
Tsai Ying-wen's position is self-contradictory. The Republic of China that Tsai Ing-wen defends is not the Republic of China founded in 1911. It is the Republic of China that emerged after 1949. It is a Republic of China that has been emptied of its legal significance. Furthermore, Tsai's defense of the Republic of China treats the ROC as the temporary shell of a hermit crab, as a form of backdoor listing. It temporarily accepts the "Republic of China" to protect its advocacy of Taiwan independence, which it will never abandon.
This sort of of unwilling, expedient, deceitful approach toward the Republic of China, has made the future of the Republic of China uncertain. It has provoked chaos and confrontation on Taiwan. People are gradually seeing through the deception. A Republic of China emptied of its legal significance is merely a movie prop. It is increasingly useless and unable to play a protective role.
Views about cross-Strait relations on Taiwan are confused. The two sides of the Strait must squarely confront history and the big picture. They must accept the concept of a "Complete Republic of China".
風雨飄搖的中華民國 生日快樂！
2016年10月10日 中國時報
今天是中華民國生日，也是中華民國第3次政黨輪替後的第1個生日。從蔡英文總統到國民黨洪秀柱主席及政府文武百官，無不準備按表操課慶祝國家生日，庶民百姓也歡度國慶假日，但人們內心其實非常疑惑，未來還有幾個雙十國慶日？
對中華民國來說，生日確實愈來愈不好過。於內，由主張建立「主權獨立自主的台灣共和國」的民進黨風光執政；於外，66年前分裂中華民國的中華人民共和國正強勢崛起，已成為世界第二大經濟體，企圖與美國並駕齊驅、領導世界。而領導中華人民共和國的中國共產黨只願意和中國國民黨交往，卻堅拒承認中華民國的存在，因而造成台灣國際空間日益緊絀。今天，大家只關心馬英九、陳水扁會不會出席國慶，倒不妨想想，如果國父孫中山先生也出席了國慶，會作何感想呢？
此時是中華民國的晦暗時刻，但大家仔細觀察卻會發現，綠紅都希望終結中華民國，卻發現中華民國的光芒愈稀微，兩岸關係會愈動盪，台灣的前途就愈黯淡。晦暗時刻反而讓我們看見一道光明：風雨飄搖的中華民國，反而是兩岸三黨的共同交集，是兩岸和平、台灣生存所依，中華民國的存在有利兩岸的穩定和台灣的穩健。
解析紅藍綠三黨與中華民國的微妙關係，國民黨當可不論，中華民國是國民黨不破也不變的「神主牌」。我們可從共產黨、民進黨2個角度解析「中華民國」三方公約數的必要性與重要性。
先從共產黨角度談起。「1911年孫中山先生領導的辛亥革命，廢除了封建帝制，創立了中華民國。」如果不特別提醒，可能會以為這是《中華民國憲法》前言的一段話，其實這是《中華人民共和國憲法》序言的文字，開宗明義把中國的法統之源，做了清楚闡釋，就是孫中山先生創建中華民國的那一刻。只不過，《中華人民共和國憲法》在高舉孫中山的辛亥革命為現代中國的法統之源後，緊接著加了一句「但是，中國人民反對帝國主義和封建主義的歷史任務還沒有完成。」
順此文理，不難發現一個清楚的憲政邏輯，1949年成立的中華人民共和國是「新政府」，而不是「新國家」，國家是綿延數千年的「中國」，中華民國是現代中國的原始主體，分裂新中國的是中共。《中華人民共和國憲法》定位此一「分裂」，是為實現「反帝國主義」、「反封建主義」歷史任務。
大陸提出「和平統一」的政策將近半個世紀，逐漸了解長期對中華民國採取否棄或抵制的態度，是「台獨」最大的助力。但囿於既有的政治意識框架，已使其陷入「不願面對中華民國的存在，又不能面對否定中華民國的危險」，進退維谷。
兩岸都希望維持和平發展大勢，兩岸實力對比已改變，理性思考就會相信，和平發展有利和平統一。陸方應正視，在台灣內部，中華民國的生存空間縮小或消失，騰出來的位置不會是「中華人民共和國」的空間，而是「台灣共和國」。換言之，不談中華民國，對大陸方面言，兩岸關係會更危險，甚至離大陸所企求的「統一大業」更遙遠。
從民進黨角度談。雖然蔡英文在就職演說中表示，「我依照《中華民國憲法》當選總統，我有責任捍衛中華民國的主權和領土」，但在大多時候，蔡英文並不願意用「中華民國」稱呼我們的國家，而以「這個國家」模糊帶過；她的文化政策與教育政策卻非常明確，要與中華文化及中國歷史切割。她雖然多次重申會「尊重中華民國憲政體制」，但在給黨員的信中卻說她受到「憲政體制的羈絆」。
交織出蔡英文兩個矛盾心態的，一是蔡英文的中華民國，不是1911年創立的中華民國，而是1949年後的中華民國，這是中華民國法理的掏空；二是即便1949年以後的中華民國，也只是暫時的「保護殼」，借殼的目的不只在於上市，更在於暫時接納「中華民國」對其台獨主張有保護作用，還不能否棄。
這種心有不甘、「權宜性」、乃至於「權謀性」看待中華民國的方式，讓中華民國前途更模糊，不但造成台灣內部更混亂的對立，對外也逐漸被看破手腳，法理被掏空的中華民國就只是電影中的道具盔甲，中看不中用，將愈來愈難發揮「保護」作用。
台灣意見紛亂、兩岸關係爭擾的此時，如以歷史宏觀思考，兩岸政府正視並接納「完整中華民國」，毋寧是一條明路。
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