With Taiwan going to the presidential polls on 22 March, it seems that who ever becomes the new President of Taiwan will soft peddle the issue of Taiwan’s separate identity from China.
The controversy surrounding the political status of Taiwan depends on whether Taiwan should remain the effective territory of the Republic of China (ROC) or be absorbed by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) or become the Republic of Taiwan. The controversy over the political status of the Republic of China hinges on whether its existence as a state is legitimate and recognized. With the Republic of China being replaced by the People’s Republic of China in the United Nations in 1971, most of the sovereign states have switched their diplomatic relation to People’s Republic of China. The supporters of Taiwan independence say that PRC is the government of mainland China and Taiwan, not being a part of China will remain as the Republic of China (Taiwan) and will maintain its position as an independent autonomous government of Taiwan. In 1999, Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui proposed a two-state theory in which both the ROC and the PRC would acknowledge that they are two separate countries with special diplomatic, cultural and historic relationship and gained immense support from within Taiwan. This however, drew angry reactions from PRC who believed that Lee was covertly supporting independence of Taiwan.
The present position of the majority of the Taiwanese is that they do not want any fresh confrontation with Mainland China. Ma Ying-jeou, the presidential candidate of Kuomintang, the party that governed Taiwan for 51years, is willing to improve ties with Beijing as earliest as possible. Compulsion of moving ahead the Taiwanese economy with Chinese help has made Ma explore possibilities of increasing the number of charter and commercial flights between Taiwan and Beijing. He also hopes to increase tourism and investment in Taiwan with help from Mainland China. Ma’s opponent Frank Hsieh, though not as liberal as Ma also wants closer economic cooperation with Beijing. What ever is the outcome of the Presidential election, the political and economic necessities will push Taiwan and Beijing closer.
Source: IHT
Image: Destination360
