ROC's status

In response to Mr. Zhang Jun's letter Taiwan issue (The Jakarta Post, May 19, 1999) I would like to make a supplementary explanation of the viewpoint of the Republic of China (ROC) government and present an overall picture of cross-strait issue.

The term of "there is only one China in the world" in Mr. Zhang's letter has pointed out the fact that China is not yet unified. If there were, there would not be any "one China" issue. The same reason applies when nowadays no one speaks of "one Germany" because it is a unified country.

The ROC government has exercised sole jurisdiction over Taiwan since 1945. In 1949, it lost control of the mainland, and the People's Republic of China (PRC) was proclaimed. Then the ROC government relocated to the remaining territory, Taiwan area, under its jurisdiction. It is clear that neither Taipei nor Beijing represents the whole China. Rather, they represent only part of China under their effective jurisdiction respectively. "Taiwan is a part of China" refers to China with broad sense of geography, history and culture. Therefore, there is a semantic trap when the PRC claims "Taiwan is an inalienable part of China" as it refers to itself as the whole China. And this is something to which the Chinese people on Taiwan cannot assent.

The current status of a divided China is not comparable to Hong Kong's as a colonial territory. It is undeniable that the ROC is a sovereign state, with its democratic political system, independent judiciary, spontaneous foreign relations and national defense. Hence, the Chinese on Taiwan will not accept "one country, two systems" formula simply because it is against their will, even though the formula may succeed in Hong Kong.

CINDY CHIEN

Assistant

Information Division

Taipei Economic

and Trade Office

Jakarta