(Huwei Railway Station - beautifully restored by the DPP County Government)Two great news items today that caught my eye. As EVA was filing through the Liberty Times I saw an article in which Ma had apparently referred to Taiwan and China as 'two countries' in a press release only for the offending words to be later amended to 'two parties' on later press releases and on the Government's website.
The Liberty Times reported that according to a Presidential Office press release issued Wednesday, the president referred to Taiwan and China as "two countries" when he talked with a visiting U.S. congressman earlier in the day.
Spokesman Wang Yu-chi said, however, that the president has not and would never refer to cross-strait relations as relations between two countries. (But according to Wednesday's Press Release apparently he did - I think it was a deliberate slip of the tongue designed to give the visiting Americans the erroneous impression Ma had a backbone when it comes to dealing with China or even showing respect to his own voter's popular land established sovereignty)
Wang explained that according to the Republic of China Constitution, the ROC on Taiwan (note the 'on taiwan': wow we have indeed regressed back not only to 1993 but now to the 1960s) is a sovereign state and the Chinese mainland is an ROC "area." (So the PRC belongs to the ROC?: in practice or in Wang's fevered imagination) Under this constitutional framework, he said, the ROC does not recognize China as a sovereign nation (but that would include the ROC too which is also 'China') but "does not deny that in fact mainland authorities are the effective ruling authority in the mainland Chinese area." Such a constitutional framework has been observed in Taiwan since former President Lee Teng-hui promulgated it 19 years ago, Wang said, and the opposition Democratic Progressive Party did not try to make any changes to the framework during its eight-year rule between 2000 and 2008 either (Because they lacked the legislative control, support from Washington and lac of opposition from China to do so.)
"Following such a framework not only is not a sign of weakness, it helps underline the ROC's sovereignty and subjectivity, " Wang said. (As opposed to Taiwan's sovereignty and subjectivity which we should all now regard as having never existed. Nothing to see here folks, move along now. Furthermore, notice Wang's appropriation of the term 'subjectivity'? For those not in the know, at least in academic circles the term Taiwan subjectivity was coined to describe a rising sense of identification by Taiwanese with Taiwan as their nation and the source of their national identity. The KMT reason that Taiwanese national identity and subjectivity was artificially constructed in the 1980s and figure that if they simply appropriate the word subjectivity in reference to the ROC they can similarly, artificially?, revive ROC identity and loyalty amongst Taiwanese. What they don't understand is that Taiwanese subjectivity wasn't simply constructed, it was built on a historical trend that began in response to Japanese colonial rule and had its ultimate foundations in a Taiwan that wasn't ruled by any Chinese 400 years ago.)
Update: The 'two countries' reference, according to the Presidential Office was a mistake by a new employee ... yes .. because referring to Taiwan and China as two countries is a mistake whereas claiming that the ROC still covers the whole of PRC China is the 'reality' , and up is down, black is white and peace is terror.
In other news, President Ma claimed that US arms sales to Taiwan would strengthen cross-strait relations (or as I like to call them, 'our international relations with China'). Here's the gist:
He told Republican Jim Sensenbrenner that Washington’s recent approval of a US$6.4 billion arms package for Taiwan not only safeguarded the country’s security, but also promoted a peaceful dialogue with China because stable Taiwan-U.S. relations were closely linked to the harmony of the environment between Taiwan and China.
Oh well, only another 2 odd years until Taiwanese can jettison the Panda President and get back to the future.
