The presidents of China and Taiwan met for the first time after over 65 years of hostile standoff during their visits in Singapore. President Xi Jingping of China and President Ma Ying-jeou of Taiwan forged the historic moment of shaking hands and greeting with the media on Nov. 7 before going to a functions room in a hotel in Singapore. Later they held conference to brief the media and public on what they held as common ground.
66 years ago, a civil war following World War II swept through mainland China, which ended with the Communist Party taking over China and forcing the then-president Chiang Kai-shek to retreat to the island Taiwan. Since then, the relation between China and Taiwan had been strained and had not eased until the 1990s, when the two sides agreed to stick with the “One China” recognition, each holding their own interpretation. The cross-strait relation has been mostly steady under the “One China” framework for two decades.
But maintaining the peace and status quo between China and Taiwan never comes easy. The leaders of China that came after Mao have always wanted to reunify with Taiwan, even by military means if necessary. As a leading society of advancing rule of law and democracy in East Asia, voices of gaining independence have certainly arisen, though Taiwan is already a de facto independent country since China has no effective control over it.
The meeting in Singapore showed that top leaders in China, in their efforts toward peaceful talks and a civil bilateral connection with the leaders in Taiwan, have not given up their desire for reunification. The meeting had its merit in terms of maintaining peace at least in the foreseeable future. But the leaders and public of Taiwan should not maintain any hope of reunifying with China just because the president released a soft message to the Taiwanese people.
Reunion between two sides that have radically different political system has many conditions. Until the day that these conditions are satisfied, separation is better off than union. The history of the Communist Party has shown that it does not value its credibility and has limited commitment to enforcing laws over time.
In 1946, the Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong, the communist leader, held talks in the southwestern city Chongqing and agreed to form a constitutional and democratic government. But soon the communists launched military attacks against the nationalists and started a civil war. Mao praised the United States many times on leading the free world and he himself fully embraced the spirit of liberty. But once Mao and his party seized power, they turned hostile to the U.S. and the West, leading into part of the Cold War.
A recent example of the Communist Party not being able to respect treaty was when it repeatedly intervened Hong Kong’s rule of law and autonomy since its handover from the Britain. And the party does not keep up its promise to respect the fundamental law of Hong Kong to allow free election of Hong Kong’s chief executive. The Chinese government’s failure to comprise free election sparked months of large-scale street protests last year.
It is not that leaders themselves cannot be trusted, but that the political system grants enormous power to whoever holding office, such that the current leaders are able to easily ignore previous leaders’ promises. Deng Xiaoping was the honorable leader who introduced China to the liberalization of market economy and held negotiations with the UK government on Hong Kong’s handover. Deng had made many promises toward Hong Kong’s arrangement and future. But his successors have significantly weakened those promises already.
If China were to launch effective reforms regarding its political and judicial system toward the right direction, any attempt to reunify across the Taiwan Strait is a dangerous adventure to Taiwan’s democratic society and its autonomy. Though currently the international community does not recognize Taiwan as a sovereign state, it is still better for Taiwan than giving up its own ability to a political regime that cannot be trusted.
