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162 Taiwan Development Perspectives 2009
China or Chinese. Gong-he-guo means “Republic.”
Taiwan’s official title is Zhong-hua min-guo, whose
English name is the “Republic of China,” abbreviated
ROC. Min-guo, in fact, is semantically the same as
gong-he-guo; and Zhong-hua min-guo is the name Dr.
Sun Yat-sen gave the republic he founded in 1912.
Moreover, there is little semantic difference between
Zhong-hua min-guo and Zhong-hua ren-min
gong-he-guo, which is the official title of the People’s
Republic of China in Chinese. Both have the same min,
which means people; and Zhong-hua min-guo could
have been translated into English as the People’s Republic
of China. Wang also told Lin the People’s Republic
did not want Taiwan to join either as a dominion
or as a free state, simply because Tibet and Xinjiang
might demand the same status. Wang said Deng was
afraid the world might think Taiwan had conquered the
People’s Republic to reunify the Chinese nation as
ROC. A much more self-confident People’s Republic
under Hu Jintao has no such fear.
At least a well-known Chinese economist has
suggested that Beijing adopt a revised “one country,
two systems” formula for Taiwan in Chinese reunification.
Lu De, the eldest son of the late reform-minded
vice premier Lu Dinyi, wants Beijing to consider a federation
or confederation with Taiwan. The formula Den
Xiaoping applied to Hong Kong and Macao can never
be accepted by Taiwan, which wants “one country, two
governments.” Lu De, a board member of Beijing’s
semi-official China Council for Promoting Peaceful
Reunification, hopes Beijing and Taipei will eventually
form a confederation, which differs little from a Chinese
commonwealth, to reflect the realities that now
exist across the Taiwan Strait. He described his suggestion
as a personal view to spark discussion and find the
least costly solution for peaceful unification; but as a
“princeling,” one of the privileged offspring of China’s
political elite, he has close ties with Beijing’s leadership.
kingdom to humble itself before a small kingdom so
that it may make that small kingdom “its prize.” “And
if a small kingdom humbles itself before a great kingdom,
it shall win over that great kingdom,” he teaches.
“Thus,” he concludes, “the one humbles itself in order
to attain, the other attains because it is humble. If the
great kingdom has no further desire than to bring men
together and to nourish them, the small kingdom will
have no further desire than to enter the service of the
other. But in order that both may have their desire, the
great one must learn humility.”
Beijing seems to have learned humility. It is up to
Taiwan to humble itself as a small state, which it is, to
win over its giant neighbor into a new Chinese commonwealth
of nations. One step Taipei can take now is
to initiate dialogue for a peace treaty between Taiwan
and China. Both President Ma and his Chinese counterpart
Hu have gone on the record by saying they hope
to sign such an agreement. The difficulty lies in the fact
that a treaty has to be signed between independent, sovereign
states and then ratified by due process of law;
and so far the People’s Republic officially regards Taiwan
as one of its provinces. Here is where the ruling
Kuomintang can play the pivotal role. The Kuomintang
can take the initiative to negotiate the peace accord with
the Chinese Communist Party. It will not be difficult,
for the KMT-CCP forum is meeting twice a year. The
treaty can be signed between the two parties. All that
the Kuomintang has to do after the signing is to initiate
a referendum on the accord. When it is passed by the
referendum, the treaty becomes the law of the land
through the due process of ratification.
Laozi or Lao Tzu in his Tao Te Ching or Daodejing
(Treatise on the Tao and Its Power) urges a great