Letters to the Editor

FAPA YPG’s mission is to help bring important issues to Congress and help the American public become more aware of the Taiwan issue. Written letters to the media is an effective way to voice our view and add to the discourse over Taiwan. The following are some letters written by FAPA YPG members, pleading their case for Taiwan.

“Outlook for Taiwan-U.S. ties” by Catherine Chou * April 3, 2008

Bravo to Bolton for proposing a sensible alternative to the United States’ current policy toward Taiwan. It is time we recognize that Taiwan is a de-facto independent state and start treating it as such. It has always struck me as hypocritical that the United States spends billions of dollars promoting democracy abroad, yet continues to chastise Taiwan, one of the few stable democracies in Asia, for holding peaceful referendums and daring to seek membership in the United Nations.

Published in Los Angeles Times @ [article link]

“Despite PRC fantasy, Taiwan is absolutely independent” by Rich Hsieh, Johnny Lin, Sara Lin, Peter Chai, Abraham Young, and Zoe Tseng * November 13, 2007

Taiwan is not (and has never been, not even for a day) a part of the People’s Republic of China. Period. On that same note, the People’s Republic of China is not a part of Taiwan. Period. Perhaps that’s easier to understand.

Recently, the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party in China concluded with a reshuffling and an election of new leaders to China’s powerful ruling elite, and the predictable trumpet-tooting nationalistic message, somehow, “the Taiwan issue is an internal issue,” was reiterated once again. Of course in his closing remarks, President Hu Jintao also mentioned China’s movement “towards democracy”—a democracy with one party and a democracy like that in Hong Kong, where leaders are ceremoniously voted for by the people but ultimately chosen by the Party itself.

Perhaps a definition of democracy is what China is really seeking, and it need only to look towards its neighbor across the Taiwan Strait to understand what democracy is. Emerging from one of the world’s longest periods of martial law, Taiwan has peacefully transitioned from a country where speaking Taiwanese meant imprisonment, to a fully-democratic country which today reaches out through humanitarianism to the far reaches of the world. Further, Taiwan does this even though it is subject to China’s bullying every day: because of China’s veto power, there is no United Nations or World Health Organization membership for Taiwan, whereas other countries like North Korea and Sudan, whose modern day atrocities are well-documented, have been members of these organizations for years.

Taiwan controls its own military, runs its own democratic politics, has its own laws, culture, language and history for its 23 million citizens, maintains its own diplomatic relations with countries, and just as America is its own country, no external country controls any of the aforementioned components of Taiwan. How does China still have the nerve to say that Taiwan is a part of China, or that Taiwan is an “internal affair?” This is the rhetoric that has been piled upon Taiwan in an attempt to bury the emergence of democracy on a tiny island nation where many of its inhabitants still remember being unable to speak their native tongue for fear of arrest. These are the citizens of a country that refused to let democracy fall even when during its first democratic elections, China fired missiles into Taiwan’s commercial ports in an attempt to intimidate the citizens of Taiwan. And of course, the Chinese are wont to remind the people of Taiwan that the number of ballistic missiles pointed at Taiwan increases every day with a recent count at nearly 1,000. To Taiwanese people, that’s 1,000 missiles pointed at our parents, our grandparents, our cousins, and our friends.

So let us choose for ourselves. Let us, our parents, our friends and our grandparents choose. The Taiwan issue has long been overshadowed by China’s insistence and propaganda that it is an internal affair to be decided by the Chinese. Let the people of a country that stands up to China determine their own place in the international community, free of Chinese missiles and China’s doublespeak that tries to force and seduce blind eyes over the world. And let the United States, in true form, uphold its values and support the successful democracy that is Taiwan, instead of appeasing China and feeding the fantasy of the PRC-Emperor’s new clothes. Just because the Communist Party continues to say Hong Kong “has retained” its democratic freedoms under the “One Country, Two Systems” policy, does not make it so. Just because the Communist Party says the next reincarnate of the Dalai Lama must be approved by the PRC, does not make it so. Just because the Communist Party says that the Falun Gong is an evil, harmful religion deserving of persecution, does not make it so. Just because the Communist Party still insists the Tiananmen “incident” was not a massacre of its own citizens but an overblown uprising instigated by students, does not make it so.

To any logical mind holding the true facts, Taiwan is absolutely no “internal affair” of the PRC Communist Party, so let us all speak out against the fallacies of regurgitated rhetoric like Demafeliz’s, and ensure that Taiwan does not end up a character in China’s fictional fantasy.

Published in The Brown Daily Herald @ [article link]

“Let Taiwanese decide own future” by Ketty Chen * September 22, 2007

Dear Editor,

When I read Martin Willison’s editorial entitled “More to Taiwan separation issue than meets the eye of editorialist”, my brain did not go through the struggle Willison did. Both sides of my brain told me to respond immediately to Willison erroneous interpretation of the political situation in Taiwan no matter how small the reading audience might be.

First, while Willison criticizes the Chronicle Herald for comparing the Taiwan-China situation to that of the invasion of Hungry by Russia, he is incorrect; equally spurious is his comparison of Taiwan with the Province of Quebec. What Willison fails to recognize is that Taiwan has never been a part of the People’s Republic of China, unlike Quebec, which is a province of Canada. Canadians can travel freely to Quebec. There aren’t any border check points nor do Canadians have to apply for special permission, or a visa to go to Quebec. Foreign citizens can enter Quebec with a visa issued by the Canadian government. Moreover, when a Canadian marries a Quebecois, he/she does not have to apply for a spousal visa in order to reside in Quebec. None of this is true when it comes to Taiwan and China.

In addition, Willison’s article suffers from the same one-sidedness as his own criticism of the Herald’s editorial. Willison wrote under the assumption that Taiwan is a province of China whereas the current situation of Taiwan demonstrates otherwise. The article is filled with labels China has given Taiwan in its attempt to establish false claim over the island, for example, “Separatist” and “Province”. If Willison examines the Cairo Declaration or even the Shanghai Communiqué, he would find that none of the historical documents established or supported communist China’s claim over Taiwan. The claim over Taiwan and the Pescadores was released by Japan after Japan was defeated in World War II.

Moreover, Willison never clearly identify the political parties he mentioned in his article. I am confused by his statement that three of the opposition parties in Taiwan are pro-unification and that only DPP of the four main political parties in Taiwan is “separatist”. Taiwan has four major political parties, the DPP, the TSU, the KMT and the PFP. Both DPP and the TSU are “pro-independence”, which means both parties support Taiwan’s status as an independent nation-state. It is very important for an academic to get the facts correct before making the allegation that the DPP platform represents only the minority.

What I find most appalling was at the end of Willison’s article when he taunted the editors of the Chronicle Herald to “give a thought to what the people of mainland China think regarding the province of Taiwan” as if the opinions of Chinese citizens hold any credence when it comes to the Taiwanese determining the future of their own country. The ironclad fact is, the people of China cannot vote in any election or on any referendum in Taiwan, because Taiwan operates like an independent state separate from China as it has always been. Leave the Taiwanese alone. Let the citizens of Taiwan determine their own future and stop meddling with the island’s hard-earned democracy and freedom.

Published in The Chronicle Herald

“Toughen our stance toward Beijing” by Eva Tseng * April 20, 2006

I STRONGLY disagree with the Globe editorial “Dealing With China.” Instead of calling for greater cooperation and understanding between the United States and China, the Globe should be advocating a tougher stance and greater vigilance toward China. When China’s president, Hu Jintao, visits the White House today he will try to persuade President Bush that his country is not a threat and that China is a crucial ally of the US. However, China has done nothing to persuade the US that it should be treated as an equal partner in geopolitical cooperation. Instead, China has continued to persecute the Tibetans, conduct an aggressive military buildup directed against Taiwan, and crack down on Chinese democracy activists. The list goes on.

The US may reap some benefits by pursuing a “strategic partnership” with China, but the price for Chinese cooperation far outweighs the benefits. Such an arrangement would come at the expense of small American business owners, Tibetans, and Taiwanese people, among countless others.

Published in The Boston Globe @ [article link]

“Taiwan’s Future” by Cindy Chen * April 7, 2005

My compliments to Times staff writer David Pierson on an insightful and fair piece on the convoluted issue of Taiwanese versus Chinese identities among first- and second-generation immigrants from Taiwan (April 2).

The passion and devotion of the Taiwanese Americans in the article brought me to near tears. It’s wonderful to know that there are many champions of democracy for Taiwan, both in the U.S. and abroad.

Published in Los Angeles Times

“China and Taiwan” by Mark Wu * March 3, 2005

SIR – I must object to your article’s assertion that Taiwan was ever part of the People’s Republic of China (you talk of Taiwan having “run its affairs for half a century” and of China threatening to “retake” the island by force). Historically, Taiwan has never been a province of the People’s Republic. The only time that Taiwan has ever been ruled by a Beijing government was during the Ching dynasty, for a scant eight years before 1895. Even then, the government barely had control over parts of the island.

Published in The Economist