Taiwan and Wilsonian Ideology
By Ching-chih Chen 陳清池

In their decades-long political struggle, the Taiwanese have made great strides in gaining freedom and democracy. The time has come now for their push to claim once and for all the full right of self-determination. The means to the end is, of course, referendums. The past offers a preview of the future.

In his 14-point address to the US Congress in January 1918, President Woodrow Wilson introduced the groundbreaking concept of self-determination. After World War I, the principle of self-determination was to become the guiding light for people under autocratic and alien rule.

The Allies' military victory over the Central Powers and the subsequent Versailles Peace Treaty, that was based very much on Wilson's 14 Points, led the defeat of Imperial Germany and the autocratic Austrian-Hungarian and Ottoman empires were broken up and most subjugated ethnic minority groups were allowed independence on the basis of self-determination in the next decade or two.

The principle and practice of self-determination have become so widely accepted as a fundamental right of all peoples that after World War II it was written into the charter of the UN. As a result, with the exception of a few cases most colonial powers fairly rapidly, one after another, ended their colonial rule and allowed independence to their former colonies.

The collapse of communism in Eastern Europe in late 1980s and the slackening of East-West Cold-War tensions prefigured the dismemberment of both the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. Over ten former Soviet republics became independent, sovereign nation-states by the end of 1991. Compared with the relatively peaceful break-up of the Soviet Union, that of Yugoslavia was violent, but four breakaway republics, Macedonia, Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia, did eventually become independent.

Finally, the UN has also played a role in making independence possible in a few cases. The most recent case is East Timor, which had been forcefully annexed by Indonesia in 1976. After over two decades of struggle for self-determination, the East Timorese were finally allowed on Aug. 30, 1999 to vote whether to remain as part of Indonesia or declare independence. In the UN-monitored plebiscite, more than 78 percent of those who cast their votes chose to break with Indonesia. On May 20, 2002, East Timor officially became the first new country of the 21st century.

As discussed, the century after 1918 is to a great extent a century of nation-states founded on the Wilsonian principle of self-determination. Now let's turn our attention to the case of Taiwan.

Taiwan was a Japanese colony from 1895, when China ceded the island to Japan, to 1945, when the defeated Japan surrendered to the Allies. From 1945 to 1952, Taiwan was a Japanese territory under the Allied military occupation. The former supreme commander of the Allied forces in the Pacific theater former general Douglas MacArthur, however, had assigned the task of actual occupation of Taiwan to the Chiang Kai-shek-led (蔣介石) army of the Republic of China. In October 1949, the People's Republic of China was founded while the leader of Republic of China Chiang fled to Taiwan with his supporters and began nearly forty years of an illegal martial law regime on Taiwan. Technically, Taiwan was still a Japanese territory until Japan formally renounced its sovereign right by virtue of the San Francisco Peace Treaty that Japan signed in 1951.

Since 1952, the status of Taiwan had thus remained undecided. It must be settled by peaceful means and based upon the principle of self-determination as prescribed in the charter of the UN. In 1987 the Chiang-imposed martial rule came to an end and democracy had its beginning when a native-born Taiwanese -- Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) -- succeeded the presidency in 1988. Then in 1996, the people of Taiwan exercised their right of self-determination by directly electing Lee their president.

By most international standards, Taiwan is an independent and sovereign nation. The PRC's attempt to annex Taiwan is no different from Hitler Germany's Anschluss plan, which ultimately resulted in the annexation of Austria in 1938. Before the forced annexation, Hitler had prevented the implementation of then-Austrian chancellor Schuschnigg's plan for a national plebiscite to decide in favor of Austrian independence. It was only with the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 that Austria was liberated to become an independent, sovereign nation again.

Beijing's "one country, two systems" formula is indeed a sugarcoated version of Hitler's plan to annex Austria.

The widespread discontent in Hong Kong was fully demonstrated in the July 1 protest. Hong Kong is ready for wider democracy while the Beijing appointed Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa (董建華) and his administration lack legitimacy. In addition, the unemployment rate has shot up to over 10 percent and real estates values have dropped by 60 percent.

The people of Hong Kong are faring a lot worse today than before the Chinese takeover. Clearly, the Taiwanese are aware of the worsening development in Hong Kong. How can China's offer of the same "one country, two systems" formula have any appeal to the Taiwanese? In fact, public opinion polls in the island nation have shown that over 70 percent of the Taiwanese asked have rejected China's annexation formula for Taiwan.

The people of Taiwan have the right to choose their own destiny. What better means for making known their decision is there than a national plebiscite? Taiwan must soon pass a national referendum law so that the people can directly participate in the decision of their nation's major policies, including Taiwan's relations with China. It is the legal as well as moral obligation of "the people of the United Nations," in the words of the UN Charter Preamble, to support the freedom-loving Taiwanese in exercising the UN-guaranteed right of self-determination.

Ching-chih Chen is a Professor Emeritus of History at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville and a member of North America Taiwanese Professors' Association