Let Taipei govern 'one China'
The passage of the Anti-Secession Law reveals Beijing's belief that the elected officials of Taiwan should not use their positions to carry out the will of the Taiwanese people. This hints at what the world can expect from Chinese leaders in years to come.
To an increasing extent, even those of us who live outside China's historic borders are going to have to begin to let the way we think, even about democracy and legality, be defined by unelected leaders of China, who operate largely outside the law.
Except for Taiwan - which has a vibrant and contentious democracy, a prospering free-enterprise economy and a president who expresses the sentiments of the people - the governments of the world are cravenly kowtowing to the mainland so that they do not risk their chance at the Chinese market.
Even the few tiny island nations of the Caribbean and the banana republics of Central America that in the past have recognised Taipei are now turning instead to Beijing and its 'one China' dictate.
It would seem that 'one China' has won the day. The alternative for Taiwan is to be invaded. Let us not dissect the fiction of the 'one-China' idea here. Rather, let us entertain the notion and see if Taiwan can find a way to live with it, if this is what must be.
The only way I can see to do this is if we reframe the tenet in a way that is truthful to the situation between the two sides today. If the people of Taiwan are to be coerced by the world into letting the leaders in Beijing define the terms of their thinking, then let us at least not deprive the situation entirely of logic.
Clearly, if there is to be 'one China', it should be ruled by the democratic government in Taipei, not the totalitarian one in Beijing.
If there is to be one system, it should be the advanced one based on law, constitutionality and sound business, banking and copyright practice - the one currently prospering in Taipei.
It should not be the archaic and lawless hodgepodge system of those reigning and conniving behind the scenes in Beijing, whose main interest is to make themselves rich, no matter what the cost to the working class or the nation as a whole. Of course, they want to extend their playing field by making a grab for Taiwan.
So, maybe we can unite Taiwan with the mainland, if the world insists on letting Beijing force this scenario. But reason has it that this new entity, the 'one China', should be governed from Taipei, not Beijing. Let them lay down their arms on the mainland, dismantle their missiles, and dismiss their dictator and corrupt party functionaries. The Taiwanese can move in, organise things in a fair way, give back the farmers their land, and the workers their jobs, set up schools for the poor as well as the rich, and the girls as well as the boys. They can democratise locally and nationally, schedule real and fair elections, and let the many peoples of China, including Tibetans, for the first time in their history have the right of self-determination.
A 'one China' like this - yes, we can go for that; a 'one-China' that is democratic and has legality, constitutionality, legitimacy, equal opportunity for the poor as well as the rich - and freedom for all. This would probably be no problem for us here in Taiwan.
William Stimson, who has taught at the National Yang-Ming University, is a Taipei-based writer and commentator
