Hopes were high in Taiwan when Barack Obama became President of the United States in January 2009. Obama had campaigned on the promise of change and that gave many in Taiwan hope for a way out from the "strategic ambiguity" imposed on the island by the United States in 1945.
When World War II ended with the Japanese surrender to the United States in August 1945, the U.S. allowed the Japanese to continue to rule the island territory commonly called Formosa. Then, in October, the Seventh Fleet of the U.S. Navy landed Chinese Nationalist troops of Chiang Kai-shek on the island to process Japanese soldiers thus beginning the longstanding ambiguity that prevents the island residents a representative to the World Health Organization, membership in the United Nations, or even participation in a recent climate change conference.
Taiwan, at the crossroads of history, became locked into limbo with the advent of the Cold War following World War II. The outbreak of the Korean "police action" in 1950 further cemented Taiwan's ambiguity with the United States recognizing the exiled Kuomintang regime Chiang Kai-shek as the legitimate government of China.
While Chiang Kai-shek's so-called "Free China" consolidated its hold on Taiwan with harsh martial law the United States looked the other way to massive human rights violations. Taiwan became a huge, secret base of U.S. covert operations throughout all of Asia and the U.S. protected the Republic of China in-exile while denying the people of Taiwan an opportunity to have self-determination.
The District of Columbia U.S. Court of Appeals has described the sad situation as one of "political purgatory" and this summer urged President Obama to act "expeditiously" to end the ambiguity that "infects" the daily life of the island. Instead, Obama ignored the federal appellate court and remained silent on the "political purgatory" cited by the court.
In November, during his trip to China, President Obama finally spoke about Taiwan. Obama subscribed to the "One China" doctrine and stated he didn't want to disturb the precedent of his predecessors. What Harry Truman didn't finish after World War II, Barack Obama has signaled he will also leave undone--determination of Taiwan's unresolved standing in the international community.
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review the District of Columbia U.S. Court of Appeals ruling about Taiwan's unhappy fate leaving the matter to President Obama since the courts lack war powers. Taiwan remains threatened by Chinese missiles and more U.S. arms sales to the ROC are under negotiation.
For the 23 million residents of Taiwan, 2010 promises to be another year in purgatory.
Comments
the chinese people would be very different today if communist china hadn't become. the true china is really nationalist china which allowed outside influences to cultivate its economy into global growth, unlike communist china which prohibits any obvious intrusion upon its governmental power. chinese behavior today is severe in nature which is very much connected to communism rule of the human mindset.
Taiwanese are waiting for a Chavez among them to save them. They had Lee, they had Chen. They shelved the former as a guardian deity, and let the latter in the slammer. With the Taiwanese, Taiwan does not need a China to suck it up into its fold.
Put a cheap magnetic compass next to heavy metal mass, and the needle will swing awry. Like a compass caught between two magnets on its East and West quarters, the needle in the Taiwanese compass has gone berserk.
For most of its 64 years of post-war development, the needle of Taiwan’s compass used to point east. Now, the needle shakily swings ever closer westward. The needle always points were the money lode is heavier.
To remove the self-imposed blinders of their single-minded rush for financial security the Taiwanese need understand the legacies bequeathed on them by their forebears and understand themselves as custodians of the cultural riches they have a duty to pass on to future generations.
The history and culture of their
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The history and culture of their ancient tribal nations, suffused with mother lodes of pride and self-esteem, is the bedrock on which they must stand to let their unique voice be heard high and clear in the concert of nations, free of alien influences. Once they will have surveyed the neutral ground atop the bedrock of their cultures, they’ll be able to regain their bearings reliably.
That soul-searching process will eventually lead them to stand firm and winnow the negotiable off the non-negotiable. That done, the pervasive influence of the largely obsolete ROC needle now locked on the heavy magnet on the western shore of the Taiwan Strait will be surgically neutered and safely removed.
Formosa will stand as tall as its Mt. Nitakayama(now known as Yu Shan in Chinese, Mt. Morrison in English). By then, it must be known worldwide under whatever name the local tribe used to call it.
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