Green Party Taiwan, March 16, 1996.
A STATEMENT TO CHINESE PEOPLE --- People to People dialogue
Green Party Taiwan crossed the center line of Taiwan Strait to PRC’s military exercise zone to issue this statement
About 400 years ago, the Chinese ancestors of Taiwanese people, either to escape from tyrannical rule or aspiring for the new world, began to take the dangerous risk of crossing the Taiwan Strait and continued to settle in Taiwan from the Southeastern coastal area of Mainland China. For over 400 years, we have experienced the struggle between Taiwanese of Chinese origin and the aboriginal Taiwanese. We have also suffered the colonial rule of the Dutch, the Spanish, the Ching Dynasty, and the Japanese. After World War II, we were also affected by the internal strife between the Chinese communists and KMT. This stage of history is filled with external invasion, domination and all-out authoritarian control. During these tragic years, the Taiwanese people have grew amid repetitive struggle and resistance. We have profoundly perceived that the spirit of firmly pursuing freedom and democracy is the life Taiwan people rely upon. Taiwan will hold popular elections for National Assembly members and its first president.
Your government, however, recklessly stages military exercises to blockade this sensitive moment. You may deem it a natural behavior against Taiwan independence; but to the people in Taiwan, it is a hegemonic threat to our right to pursue freedom and democracy. In recent years, we have completed a democratic renovation of our highest institution of public opinion: the Legislative Yuan is now legitimately authorized by the people. Furthermore, the executive department of the authoritarian era will soon be changed to a ruling apparatus which will be in line with the public opinion. Taiwan will birth the first legitimate regime in Asian history. Your government accuses us of merely implementing “a change in form of electing a regional leader.” Such talk is not only a insult to the people on Taiwan but also amply demonstrates the ignorance your authorities have of modern of democratic rule. A legitimate sovereignty can only be produced by public opinion.
At a time when your government poses feudalistic imperialism, attempting to threat our democratic procedure by use of force, Green Party has determined to bare-handedly go to your “exercising zone” during live ammunition practice. We are very willing to take this action to renew our firm determination for the pursuit of freedom. On June 4, 1989, your regime slaughtered thousands of unarmed youth at your own capital plaza. We shed tears for these people who loved freedom. Today , the same batch of leaders are using the name of “national consciousness” to intimidate Taiwan’s democratic process. Did such action obtain our agreement? Dictators are fond of using nationalism to suppress peasants. But what has more weight then life and freedom? We must warn you that the so-called Taiwan question is in fact “will to freely chose its own destiny” by the people of Taiwan, the question threatening the Chinese regime.
Undoubtedly there are still some people in Taiwan who are not for Taiwan independence. But the reason is not what you said, nationalism; instead it is the fear of losing freedom if your regime is agitated to invade Taiwan by force. It is by no means that there is a “sentiment of blood thicker than water in Chinese race”. China’s miserable history of being invaded in the past 100-odd years is the major factor behind that the rise of Chinese nationalism and its maturity. The totalitarian rule of the Ching Dynasty, warlords, as well as the struggle between the KMT and the Communist Party, make the struggle for democracy and freedom by the Chinese people. Is this experience still not adequate for our people who suffered similar hardships to jointly hope for the “realization of freedom?” Even as you launch missiles across the sky and the bomb artillery near our ears, we are determined to safeguard our democratic procedures. Perhaps, we ought to appreciate those dictators at “Chongnanhai” who have given us the opportunity to cherish each other more and to defend our own land. We hope that you will comprehend more the terrible nature of your dictatorship: the experience of tanks rolling over Tiananmen square and launching missiles across the Taiwan Strait. An open China will give you an opportunity to stand up internationally and you should not give up such an opportunity. We expect the struggle for China’s independence against Beijing’s authoritarian regime will ultimately expand. We whole-heartedly hope both the Taiwanese people and the people in China will be able to get along with each other peacefully and equally.
For everlasting peace in the Pacific and the Taiwan Strait!!!
March 16, 1996.