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China must give Taiwan autonomy

I feel obliged to point out an important point missing in the Daily's report on Chinese missile threats near Taiwan ("China readies for war games with Taiwan," 3/12/96): That the current conflict between Taiwan and China is a result of China's disagreement with the current trend in democracy in Taiwan.

The real purpose of the recent Chinese military threat near Taiwan is to suppress the developing democracy in Taiwan. China has considered Taiwan a renegade province. Repeatedly, China has claimed that they will use whatever methods, including military invasion, to capture Taiwan, if Taiwan should declare independence. The rapidly developing democracy in Taiwan, on the other hand, allows people to consider and publicly discuss the possibility of declaring Taiwan as an independent state. China considers this trend in Taiwan offensive, and chooses to wage its military power to divert the free will of the Taiwanese people.

Whether Taiwan is a part of China is a complex problem. There perhaps does not exist a simple resolution to this issue. Despite the close relationship that existed between Taiwan and China in many aspects, such as history and culture, there has been a myriad of differences between them, built up in the past hundreds of years. For example, although Chinese culture is a dominating portion of the Taiwanese culture, the latter has developed for a sufficiently long time on her own way. In the past few hundreds of years, Taiwan has continually separated from China. Moreover, they were actually ruled under different authorities from 1895 to present.

The difference between Taiwan and China makes a significant portion of the Taiwanese consider Taiwanese independence as a choice for Taiwanese future. Nurtured by the recent progress of democracy in Taiwan, seeking Taiwanese independence has become more and more popular in Taiwan. Under the Chinese threats, the portion of people expresses their approval for independence in recent polls varies between 30 and 40 percent. The numbers, however, are expected to increase greatly, if the Taiwanese people are allowed to vote with their free will.

Being afraid of this trend toward Taiwanese independence, the Chinese government reacts by showing their military power in areas that are less than 40 miles from Taiwan's coast. Many nations, including the United States, have condemned such a terrorist activity. The University community should support the Taiwanese people's right to develop democratic systems. The Taiwanese people should have their right to choose their own future, including independence or unification. No outsiders should try to inappropriately affect the free will of the Taiwanese people.

CHAO-LIN LIU

EECS GRADUATE STUDENT