"We sternly oppose Taiwan seeking independence, but the Taiwanese people's ideology of loving their hometown and their land and seeking to be their own masters is absolutely not equal to being pro-independence."
"However, because mainstream public opinion wants a continuous, peaceful and stable development of cross-strait relations, efforts to seek independence are doomed to decline and fall."Ah, here we see the seemingly radical admission that Taiwanese love their land and their hometown and seek to be their own masters. So far so good. But then Zheng pulls the rabbit out of the hat in arguing that this does not equate to being pro-independence. Interesting. A visiting former CCP official has the bare faced cheek to tell Taiwanese what their ideology is and isn't, despite having just admitted that the Taiwanese want to determine their own affairs. Obviously the same Taiwanese don't care for determining the definition and content of their own ideology (which Beijing claims the monopoly on doing so). What is also interesting is that the PRC used to admit that Taiwan was de-facto independent but now that has been dropped and replaced with Taiwanese self determination within a one country two systems rubric. This seems to be to be a thinly veiled part of Beijing's soft power strategy - an attempt to recognise Taiwanese feelings whilst retaining the ability to define those feelings in a way that suits Beijing's agenda. I also love that use of the word 'doomed' which taps into the collective Taiwanese psyche of not going against the majority combined with a sense of fatalism inbred by 400 years of colonialism. Let's hope a majority of Taiwanese disregard Zheng's comments for what they are, a gross misreading of Taiwanese public opinion and a subtle threat. After all, the poll figures suggest that a majority of Taiwanese (except the KMT inner circle and leading politicians) have come to accept Taiwan as a sovereign nation and do not wish to seek annexation within any form of political arrangement with China.
My question to Zheng: How is loving your land and hometown and seeking to be your own master not pro-independence? How does desiring a continuous peaceful and stable development of cross-strait relations necessarily mean that seeking independence is doomed to fail?
