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Friday, April 14, 2006
On Kuomintang's slide into appeasement
The Kuomintang Party of Taiwan (better known by the English translation of their name, Nationalist) spent the better part of more than a half-century defending the island from the Communist-controlled mainland. The last Nationalist to lead Taiwan, Lee Teng-hui, brought democracy to the island, and in the process allowed the Taiwanese people to build what is arguably the most politically open society in Asia.
After losing power to Taiwan's pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, Kuomintang had two options: present a determined anti-Communist reunification agenda that included helping the mainland dissidents free themselves of their Communist oppressors, or appease the Communists and try to downplay the regime's threat to the island. Sadly, they have chosen the latter (third item).
Now, yours truly has tried very hard not to come to a conclusion about Taiwanese independence. There are decent historical arguments on both sides, and more to the point, there are very good anti-Communist arguments on both sides, too. That said, when it comes to who should govern Taiwan, the anti-Communist really has no choice. Lee himself is now an ex-Nationalist; he founded his own political party and is largely allied with the DPP (he endorsed Chen's re-election last year).
If the Taiwanese people (and I) are indeed ever convinced independence is the only way to go, one of the biggest reasons why will be the refusal of the lead anti-independence political forces on the island to remain anti-Communist.
Posted by D.J. McGuire on April 14, 2006 in International Affairs | Permalink
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