On May 20th, 2024, President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) Tsai Ing-wen delivered her inaugural speech, once again emphasizing that the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other. However, there are mainland Chinese citizens and overseas dissidents who still hope that Taiwan will pay attention to the mainland. Yuan Hongbing, a scholar based in Australia, expressed that given Taiwan’s history and current political developments, it is unrealistic to expect Taiwan to “retake the mainland.”
In her speech, Tsai Ing-wen mentioned the Republic of China nine times, Taiwan three times, and the Republic of China Constitution once, but did not mention the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area. She reiterated that the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other.
Under the aggressive tactics of the Chinese Communist Party, Tsai Ing-wen also cautioned against having illusions, stating that as long as the CCP has not abandoned the use of force against Taiwan, even if Taiwan fully accepts the mainland’s claims and relinquishes its sovereignty, the mainland’s attempts to annex Taiwan will not disappear.
Recently, some mainland Chinese citizens and overseas dissident scholars expressed regret that Tsai Ing-wen did not address the issue of “unifying China.” Responding to this, on May 30th, Yuan Hongbing, a legal scholar based in Australia, told a media outlet that expecting Tsai Ing-wen to implement a “retake the mainland” policy like during the Chiang Kai-shek era is impractical.
Yuan Hongbing pointed out that historically, there were political reasons for anti-mainland sentiments during the Chiang Kai-shek era. However, after Chiang Kai-shek’s passing, during the era of Chiang Ching-kuo, the opposition against the CCP’s tyranny was still upheld. Yet, in the 21st century, the Kuomintang (KMT) no longer has the political consciousness of retaking the mainland. A significant portion of the KMT’s elite families have already integrated politically and economically with the CCP.
Yuan Hongbing argued that Tsai Ing-wen’s statement about the Republic of China not being subordinated to the People’s Republic of China is in response to the CCP’s strategic plan to use the guise of “unification” to conquer free Taiwan.
He emphasized that a legitimate unification based on the rule of law must be a voluntary union of free peoples. However, in the current Chinese political system dominated by Communist dictatorship under Xi Jinping’s personal rule, and with Taiwan already a democratic society where 23 million people enjoy the rights of free citizens, the CCP’s so-called “unification” is a false concept. It aims to destroy the people’s sovereignty and freedom that Taiwan currently possesses with authoritarian state terrorism.
Yuan Hongbing stressed that Tsai Ing-wen’s words should not be interpreted…