Taiwan Separatists Unworthy Sons of 'Father'

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, June 07, 2002

Taiwan Separatists Unworthy Sons of 'Father'

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At an Executive Council meeting reviewing "The Draft Regulation on Holidays for Commemoration Days and Festivals" on May 22, Chen Ting-nan - Taiwan's "justice minister" and a member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) - questioned the validity of Dr Sun Yat-sen's status as "Father of the Nation."

Chen claimed, since no law stipulates the definition of "Father of the Nation," it would be incorrect to take it for granted that Dr Sun Yat-sen is "Father of the Nation."

This sounds ridiculous.

Dr Sun led the 1911 Revolution which overthrew the reign of corrupted Qing Dynasty and ended China's 2,000-year-old feudal monarchy. He was the founder of the Republic of China, the first democratic government in Asia.

He is rightfully respected by many people in Taiwan as "Father of the Nation" due to his outstanding contribution to the making of the first republic in Chinese history.

This has also been acknowledged by all the Chinese people both home and abroad.

Even children in primary schools in Taiwan - according to Wu Ching-ji, spokesman of the Kuomintang - know who is referred to as "Father of the Nation."

Whether or not a person is qualified for an honorary title is not a legal issue.

That it took a "justice minister" to challenge an accepted idea is but another ramification of the DPP's worsening allergy to the island's unremovable Chineseness.

Unlike the Kuomintang, which perceives itself as legal heir of Dr Sun's creation, the island's current leader and his comrades are keen on "de-sinification."

Questioning Dr Sun Yat-sen's status as "Father of the Nation" is just one of their many moves in that direction.

However, no matter how hard they try, reality is reality. They can never go around the long-standing legal reality that Taiwan has been and still is a part of China.

Wang Yung-ching, one of the most successful entrepreneurs in Taiwan, annoyed the authorities on the island by an eloquent illumination of the relationship between being Taiwanese and being Chinese at a recent press conference.

He said he is a Chinese as, like the Beijingers and Shanghainese, Taiwanese are Chinese as well. He stressed he regarded himself as Chinese not because it is his own viewpoint but because it is a matter of reality.

Wang's remarks were embarrassing for those pro-independent roaders in Taiwan, because they play ostrich to the fact Taiwan is a part of China no matter in terms of history or in terms of culture and blood links.

Behind their desperate moves is the separatist ambition to gradually dilute the Taiwan people's sense of being Chinese.

But they will have to pay for what they are doing now, as this is against the interests of people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits who want peace and stability as well as prosperity.

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