Whose Centenary?

This excellent Taiwan News article I think hit the nail on the head so I reprint here in full :

Monday's launch of the logo for the restored Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) government's extravaganza celebrations of the centenary of the "Republic of China" under the theme of "100 years of brilliance" exposed the reality that the "ROC" of President Ma Ying-jeou is not the same as the "ROC" as understood by most of Taiwan's 23 million people. This case shows the utility of the adage that "persons on the inside may be confused, while observers on the outside can see clearly."

Imagine the reaction of a foreign citizen with some familiarity with Taiwan's history upon hearing the claim, printed in materials of our own Tourism Bureau, that Taiwan is celebrating the 100th birthday of its founding as a republic on Jan. 1, 2012.

The immediate response is likely to be puzzlement since anyone familiar with East Asian history knows that there was no republic founded in 1912 on Taiwan, which was then in its 17th of 50 years of Japanese rule, and that Taiwan therefore was also not part of the Republic of China founded in Nanjing.

So, if it is not the birthday of a democratic republic in Taiwan that is to be commemorated, then the most salient question in this affair concerns what exactly does President and KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou want the Taiwan people to "celebrate" and should the Taiwan people join in this party.

This question is important because not a few persons who are committed to the cause of Taiwan's democracy are taking part in the preparations for this centenary on the grounds that the "ROC" signboard represents the "lowest common denominator" in national identity and believe that "the ROC equals Taiwan" and "Taiwan equals the ROC."

But is the "ROC" whose centenary Ma wants to celebrate the same as the ROC which is the name of Taiwan's democratic state or which "equals" Taiwan?

A hint that the answer is negative was given by Ma himself during Monday's unveiling of the celebration's logo when he declared that "we" must "develop a Chinese culture with Taiwan characteristics."

This remark, which is in line with previous presidential statements declaring that Taiwan is a "region" of the ROC and that "all the people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits belong to the Chinese nation race," clearly identifies Taiwan culture as a subset to "Chinese culture" and subordinates Taiwan to "China."

These positions expressed by Ma have been founded on his ideological elevation of "nationalism" over democracy and citizenship and an insistence that the claimed national borders of the ROC in 1912 are still valid because Article Four of the ROC Constitution of December 1947 that the ROC territory "according to its existing national boundaries shall not be altered except by resolution of the National Assembly."

Negating people's sovereignty

It is obvious to any sane person with a sense of reality that this article has already been superceded by the "altering" of the ROC's "existing boundaries" by the Chinese Communist Party's People's Liberation Army in 1949 when it expelled KMT regime under the late autocrat Chiang Kai-shek from the China mainland in 1949.

In the wake of Taiwan's democratization, Articles Two and Three of the Constitution, which declare that "the sovereignty of the ROC shall reside in the whole body of citizens" and that "persons possessing the nationality of the ROC shall be citizens of the ROC," are decidedly more relevant than the vague Article Four.

Indeed, Taiwan's democratization, including the full exercise of people's sovereignty in our first direct presidential election on March 19, 1996, defined the territory of the actually existing "ROC" as Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu and eliminated any link with the China mainland.

If Ma's virtual " ROC" simply no longer exists in reality, then what is the significance of this centenary celebration?

A worrying possibility is that the underlying agenda is to reimpose the virtual edifice of the KMT's legitimacy myth and deny the existence of Taiwan as a democratic independent state (even while retaining the ROC signboard) and negate the "people's sovereignty" of our 23 million people.

If Ma wants to prove that the "centenary ROC" is not the externally imposed KMT party-state of the Chiang era is equal to Taiwan's democratic republic, his KMT administration can prepare the following "birthday presents":

First, launch a national competition to rewrite the current national anthem so that it is no longer exactly the same as the KMT party song;

Second, hold a national contest to redesign a new national flag and national emblem without the KMT party emblem;

Third, publically state that the ROC equals Taiwan and cease stating that Taiwan is merely a "region" under the ROC and drop the racialist notion that "all the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to the Chinese race-nation";

Fourth, restore the name "Taiwan Democracy Commemoration Park" and,

Fifth, change the KMT's name to the "Taiwan National Party."