Is Tsai Running for Xinbei Mayor under Government in Exile?

Commentary

Is Tsai Running for Xinbei Mayor under Government in Exile?

By Amb. Stephen S. F. Chen & Chih-Yung Ho

Source: United Daily News
May 27, 2010

Tsai Ing-wen, chairwoman of the pro-independence opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), called the Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan a “government in exile.” It was the first time for Tsai to define her position on national identity and she chose to lean politically towards the DPP’s radical pro-independence camp. Some people said that Tsai was simply “describing history” while others criticized her for using rhetoric as an electioneering trick for the year-end five special municipalities mayoral elections. Whatever Tsai’s remarks were intended to be, as a leader of the largest opposition party in Taiwan, she has the responsibility to tell the people of Taiwan in clear language about her rationale behind calling the ROC a “government in exile.”

In Taiwan, the Taiwan independence movement is based on two principal theories. One is “Taiwan’s Undetermined Status Theory” and the other is “reinstatement of the rule of the US military government (in Taiwan),” which former President Chen Shui-bian advocated last year in an effort to extricate himself from his corruption cases.

If Tsai Ing-wen chose the former as the rationale behind her so-called “government in exile” remarks, there would be no difference between her and Taiwan independence fundamentalists. In this case, she should have sought international support for self-determination in Taiwan so as to fulfill her mission to establish an independent state as early as possible instead of spending her time running for Xinbei City mayor under the rule of a “government in exile.”     

If it is the latter, Chen and Tsai are jackals from the same lair, both refusing to recognize the legitimacy of the ROC government. Otherwise, Chen Shui-bian wouldn’t have had an attorney bring a suit with the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces against US President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, demanding that he be given a new trial in the military court under the US military government in Taiwan. Following this logic, Tsai should not only have supported Chen’s demands in public, but also insistently refused to run for the Xinbei mayorship.

Furthermore, we want to ask Tsai Ing-wen how she rationalizes the fact that she used to serve in several important public offices, such as chairperson of the Mainland Affair Council (MAC) under the ROC Executive Yuan and ROC Vice Premier. Is it possible for her to admit that she served as the MAC chairperson and the Vice Premier under a “government in exile?” She cannot and should not evade answering such a question.

According to our Constitution and relevant international treaties, the fact that “Taiwan belongs to the ROC” has never been in question. Besides, we have already elected our President popularly and experienced two political turnovers, so the ROC government is definitely not a “government in exile.” Since Tsai Ing-wen has defined her position, she should give the people a clearer explanation in a responsible manner.

(Source: http://udn.com/NEWS/OPINION/X1/5626355.shtml)

Amb. Stephen S. F. Chen was ROC representative to the US and is currently Convener of the National Security Division, National Policy Foundation. Chih-Yung Ho is Assistant Research Fellow of the National Security Division, National Policy Foundation.
 

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