For the past several years, whenever President Li Tenghui and
the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) leaders refer to the Republic
of China, the words "in Taiwan" are added so the designation
becomes "The Republic of China in Taiwan." They then say "The
Republic of China" which exists on Taiwan has always been a
sovereign state. Recently even the Democratic Progressive Party
has appeared to accept the notion that "The Republic of China is
a sovereign state." However, this notion is a basic error.
The world knows that a country named the Republic of China
exists on Taiwan. The world also knows that this country has a
notso-small population of 21,300,000, has attained the level of
an advanced nation economically, and has implemented political
reforms to evolve into a democratic country. But does the inter-
national community recognize the Republic of China as a sovereign
state?
If the international community does recognize the Republic of
China as a sovereign state, then the international community will
also acknowledge that the Republic of China also has the "right
to independence" and "the right to equality," which are the
natural rights of a sovereign state. The right to independence is
the right to participate in the international community as an
independent nation. The right to equality is the right to be
treated as an equal among independent nations in the
international community regardless of the country's size.
Regrettably, the world community does not recognize either
the right to independence or the right to equality for the
Republic of China. This is evidence that the international
community does not consider the Republic of China a sovereign
state. No matter how loudly Taiwan proclaims that the Republic of
China is a sovereign state, if the international community does
not so recognize it, Taiwan cannot become an official member of
the international community and cannot establish a framework for
guarantee of security as a nation.
Why doesn't the international community recognize the
Republic of China as a sovereign state? The reason is clear based
on the following scenario. Suppose someone in the government or
parliament of a certain country asserted that the Republic of
China should be recognized thus: "The Republic of China in Taiwan
is a democratic country with economic power. The Republic of
China should be accepted into the international community for
world peace and the development of the world economy. Shouldn't
our country be the first to recognize the Republic of China? "
The opponent could say, with a map of the Republic of China in
hand, "Look at this map. The Republic of China maintains it
exists on Taiwan, but its official map also includes the People's
Republic of China and Mongolia. The Republic of China claims
sovereignty over these two countries, yet it does not exercise
sovereignty in any part of these. The Republic of China exercises
sovereignty on only onethree hundredth of the territory over
which it claims sovereignty. The chief indispensable condition of
a sovereign state is that it actually exercises sovereignty on at
least the main portion of the territory over which it claims
sovereignty. The Republic of China may not be regarded as a
sovereign state since it does not meet the basic condition for a
sovereign state. I am against our country commencing official
diplomatic relations with a country having no sovereignty."
Who can refute such a position? The argument ends here,
regardless of how the People's Republic of China may react. No
bona fide country would ignore a basic principle of international
law and officially recognize a country devoid of sovereignty.
Taiwan Could Become an Eminent Sovereign State
Once the Fictitious Territories are Discarded
In order to join the international community, Taiwan first
needs to fulfill the necessary conditions for a sovereign state.
This is not a difficult task. Simply document the legal
abandonment of territorial and sovereignty claims against the
Chinese mainland and proclaim this action to the world. Taiwan
will not be giving up something it possesses. There will not be
any loss to Taiwan and the Taiwanese people since only fictitious
territorial sovereignty will be abandoned.
President Li Tenghui repeatedly refers to the phrases, "the
Republic of China in Taiwan" and "21,300,000 countrymen." This
may mean that "the Republic of China is a nation on Taiwan where
its 21,300,000 citizens possess sovereignty." To give up the
fictitious territorial sovereignty merely affirms President Li's
words legally.
Should the Republic of China implement the above affirmation
of its legal territory, neither the People's Republic of China
nor Mongolia will be able to object. To object will mean
recognition of the Republic of China's territorial sovereignty
over its own country.
By discarding the fictitious territorial sovereignty, the
Republic of China will actually exercise sovereignty on most of
the territory over which it claims sovereignty and thereby
fulfill the basic condition of a sovereign state. The
international community will not be able to ignore the existence
of a sovereign state with the scale and economic strength of
Taiwan. The call for recognition of Taiwan will be vociferous as
a matter of course.
In such an event, Taiwan's state designation will be a
problem since the major countries of the world have pledged not
to recognize "two Chinas." It is understood that Taiwan is a
sovereign state completely different from China, but the state
name Republic of China, including the word China, is
objectionable.
The name of a state is not as important as the country's
safety and viability. Simply change Republic of China to Taiwan.
Ceylon has changed its name to Sri Lanka and Burma has become
Myanmar. There are many examples of such name change without any
problems.
The countries of the world would be eager to recognize Taiwan
if it abandons the fictitious claim of territorial sovereignty
and changes its state name. China will oppose the recognition of
Taiwan on the ground that Taiwan is a part of the People's
Republic of China but such empty assertions will not be accepted
by the world community.
The world community has struggled with the handling of the
Taiwan problem since both China and Taiwan have claimed
sovereignty over the other country's territory. It is not unusual
for one country to assert sovereignty over another's territory.
Today's international community isn't so unfair as to recognize
such a claim.
The international community also wishes to ensure peace in
East Asia by adding Taiwan to the international community. From
Taiwan's standpoint, once it joins the international community it
will benefit from the protection of international law and
international security guarantee apparatus, just like other
countries of the world. Taiwan will no longer be exposed to
China's threats as it is currently.
Should China sever relationships with countries which
recognize Taiwan, China will become isolated. China will have no
option but to accept reality, although this is not Taiwan's
concern.
One domestic problem for Taiwan is that the constitution of
the Republic of China must be changed to Taiwan's constitution
since the former was drafted for governing China and since the
Republic of China is to be reborn as the nation of Taiwan. As
seen in agreements reached at the 1996 National Development
Conference, the national consensus is to convert the Republic of
China into Taiwan. But no matter how the constitution made in
China to rule China is amended, it will not become an integral
and coherent Taiwan constitution.
Constitutional law is the foundation of all other laws. How
can Taiwan's rule of law be established without first setting up
a coherent Taiwan constitution? The establishment of a rule of
law is a necessary requirement for a modern nation. Taiwan may
become a true modern nation only after adopting Taiwan's
constitution. The making of the Taiwan nation through adoption of
the Taiwan constitution this is the logical conclusion of the
concept that sovereignty resides in the people.
There is No Need to Fear China's Military Action
In Taiwan's opinion polls those in favor of maintaining the
status quo always constitute an overwhelming majority. Even
though support for Taiwan independence is two to three times the
level of support for unification with China, the former only
counts for 10 to 20 percent of those polled. However, when asked
about the reason for supporting the status quo, many answer:
"Independence is best. But I fear China will launch a military
attack if independence is declared."
But do these people understand the meaning of declaring inde-
pendence? Taiwan's independence signifies abandonment of
sovereignty claims against China. It is not a hostile act toward
China. On the contrary, it is a friendly act.
They may then retort that "China is beyond reason. China will
launch military action whenever it dislikes Taiwan's attitude."
If China is unreasonable to that extent, it makes no sense to
defer to it, since China will attack Taiwan whenever it pleases.
That was the situation with Tibet.
Tibet feared China and always tried not to offend China. That
didn't stop China from sending troops to occupy and then gobble
up Tibet. This took place during the Cold War, in the midst of
the Korean War, when China didn't have to be concerned about
international sanction and Tibet had no defense capability to
speak of.
China proclaims "the liberation of Taiwan" as a basic
national policy. China may attempt military invasion once it
possesses the military capability to occupy Taiwan, regardless of
Taiwan's attitude. That is why it is necessary for Taiwan to join
the international community and establish a structure for
international security guarantees as soon as possible. Until
then, Taiwan needs to evaluate possible means of Chinese military
intervention and develop defensive strategies to deal with them.
This is being done.
So what kinds of military intervention are feasible, given
China's current capability?
It is clear China does not have the ability to occupy Taiwan
without resorting to nuclear weapons. However, Chinese leaders
are probably aware that the use of nuclear weapons would turn
China into the enemy of the whole human race and would be a
suicidal act.
If the use of nuclear weapons is assumed, then only Russia
among China's neighboring countries has the ability to oppose
China. All neighbors of China other than Russia would have to
obey China's orders if they are afraid of China's nuclear
arsenal. But no country thinks of doing so. The same is true of
Taiwan. If threatened with nuclear attack, would Taiwan surrender
to China? That will not happen.
So what can China actually do?
One way is aerial bombardment with bombers and missiles with
nonnuclear warheads. Taiwan probably can defend against
virtually all bombers, but it will be difficult to completely
fend off a missile attack. However, attack by missiles with
ordinary warheads isn't very effective, as seen from the
experience of Iran and Iraq, who attacked each other with
missiles over a period of eight years. Should China launch
missile attacks, it would obviously be severely criticized by the
international community and China's economic relations with
America, Europe and Japan would be severed, at a minimum. In that
event, China's globalized economy would collapse in a matter of
months. To China, such an attack has many disadvantages and not
a single advantage.
Deng Xiaoping once said although China does not have the
capacity to invade Taiwan, it can blockade Taiwan. Actually even
that is impossible. Since 70 percent of shipping which connects
Taiwan with foreign countries are foreign ships and there is a
surplus of freighters around the world, it won't be necessary to
operate Taiwanese ships. If China declares a blockade of Taiwan,
the tariff on shipping to Taiwan would soar so freighters from
all over the world would congregate in Taiwan. A ship's
nationality can be changed easily. These freighters would
probably come to Taiwan flying the flag of the United States,
which prohibits military action or blockade against Taiwan in its
Taiwan Relations Act. To attack ships flying the Stars and
Stripes would be tantamount to declaring war on America. China
cannot do that.
What China can do now is to intimidate, just as it did during
last year's presidential election. Taiwan does not have to fear
Chinese military action unless China develops the capacity to
take possession of Taiwan in a short time. However, there is no
guarantee that China will not become a military superpower with
such capability in the future. Taiwan ought to join the inter-
national community by meeting the basic conditions of a sovereign
state while there is still time.
By their own free will, the people of Taiwan have elected
legislators and a head of state to represent the citizens. This
is an exercise of sovereignty by the Taiwanese people who are
sovereign. The current situation, where the country is not recog-
nized as a sovereign state by the international community even
though the people possess sovereignty, is highly abnormal. Such a
witless situation prevails because the Republic of China will not
discard it fictitious territorial sovereignty. As sovereign, the
people of Taiwan should jointly demand that this abnormal state
of affairs be put to an end as soon as possible.
Abandon the fictitious territorial sovereignty! Taiwan can
break out of the secluded circumstance by this single act!