Tsai Ing-wen Suddenly Remembers 8/23, But Forgot the Nation’s History

 Tsai Ing-wen Suddenly Remembers 8/23, But Forgot the Nation’s History

[8/23 refers to the artillery duel over Kinmen on August 23, 1968.]

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

October 14, 2019

 Translation of an Excerpt

During her National Day message, President Tsai emphasized that "the Republic of China Taiwan" was the broadest consensus of the society, and looked back at the various severe challenges experienced jointly in the past 70 years. From the onset, she mentioned that "We together experienced the 8/23 Artillery Duel and together experienced the 1996 Taiwan Strait Crisis." In order to win votes, this government has finally remembered the 8/23 Artillery Duel, but has at the same time, changed our national title; the electoral campaign has beheaded the founding history of the country.

Last year, the 60^th anniversary of 8/23, the Tsai government was totally oblivious to the significance of this battle. DPP party workers claimed that the Chinese Communist Party "did not fight against the DPP" on August 23 of yesteryear and that Taiwanese soldiers" were sacrificed for the KMT." At this moment, the attitude of the Tsai government has overturned. Of course, it is for the next year’s presidential election, wanting to use “the Republic of China card” to fight for votes.

During her National Day message, Tsai Ing-wen advocated that "the Republic of China Taiwan has stood for over seven decades," cutting the first 38 years since the birth of the Republic of China, precisely for separating clear-cutly relations between the two sides of the Strait. Not being able to pragmatically handle cross-Strait relations, nor honestly facing the history of the country, how could this kind of government safeguard Taiwan's security and future? When there exist no conditions for either reunification or independence, how to best use of the Republic of China and the hard-to-be-parted cross-Strait ties in order to create conditions for peaceful and stable cross-Strait relations is the viable path for a peaceful and stable environment of living and working in Taiwan. The logic is easy to understand, the problem is, will the voters vest the powers to someone with ulterior motives?

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