An embassy's statement does not make Taiwan part of China

November 26, 1998

I sympathize with Mr. Yu Shuning. He must have a really tough job as the press counselor of the Chinese embassy where he continuously has to repeat statements that are falsehoods. In his letter to the editor "Taiwan has no right to join the United Nations," November 19), for instance, he writes: "Taiwan has been part of China since ancient times."

Since the Kuomintang moved its Nationalist government to Taiwan in 1949 at the end of the Chinese Civil war, Taiwan has been an independent country. This is not a matter of interpretation, this is a matter of factual reality. Before that, Taiwan was occupied by the Dutch, the Portuguese and the Spanish. From 1895 until the end of World War II, Taiwan was under Japanese control. To be fair: Taiwan was a province of China for a mere eight years (1887-1895), but that doesn't make Taiwan part of China "since ancient times."

Furthermore, his comparing current Taiwan-China relations with the American civil war is plain silly. ("In the United States a civil war was fought to preserve the unity of the state.") Taiwan and China are two separate independent countries. There is no unity to preserve.

A comparison with the American Revolutionary War would be more appropriate. Would anyone claim that America today is under British rule? I don't think so. Same with Taiwan. Beijing has not for a single day exercised any control over Taiwan since the communists came to power on the mainland in 1949.

Taiwan is a de facto independent country with its own territory, autonomous government with effective control, a military, a currency, a stock market etc. De jure independence for Taiwan is the next step with Taiwan's full participation in international organizations such as the United Nations, the World Health Organization and UNICEF.

If the people of Taiwan indeed decide through a democratic mechanism to opt for de jure independence, the international community in general and the People's Republic of China in particular must honor that democratically constituted wish. China should then accept Taiwan as a friendly neighboring state.

If you keep calling something white black, that does not make it black. If you keep stating that Taiwan is part of China, that does not make it part of China.

WEN-YEN CHEN
President of Formosan Association for Public Affairs, Washington