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I am not worried about the March election in Taiwan, but the one in 2008
wchao37 Updated: 2004-03-06 09:15
I am rather impressed with Xu Xin-liang (Hsu Hsin-liang), the second debater in the recently held forum in Taiwan on the side against the referendum on March 20.
Remember him?
He was the former chairman of DPP who resigned from the party in 1999 because he could not agree with the independence stand of his fellow party members. As a result of his resignation Chen Suibian seized the chance to replace him as DPP chairman and later on ran for presidency.
During the debate, Xu appealed to the Taiwan compatriots not to bother themselves with the referendum, saying that if more than fifty percent of the electorate fails to register for the referendum vote, it would have sent a strong signal of failure to the DPP.
I am not so much worried about the current referendum. I am thinking ahead to the March election in 2008, a few months ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
What if by then the U.S. has extricated herself from her Iraqi quagmire and the North Korean nukes have been neutralized, and Uncle Sam could then concentrate on the Taiwan Strait?
And what if she suddenly throws her weight behind the DPP just before the election, catching China by surprise? By then the KMT would have made a ton of mistakes to give enough ammunition to the DPP for a comeback if the country is not unified by then.
If a war occurs the Olympics will have to be cancelled. No one can absolutely guarantee that this will not happen.
That's why I am not worried about this current election at all because America is not ready to fight and Chen has no support from the White House.
That's why I think the four years between now and March, 2008 are the most important for China.
If peaceful re-unifcation fails to occur by then, a situation might evolve in March, 2008 at which time China will be compelled to react forcibly and not sit idly by.
Wei Chao, M.D.
HKSAR
| The above content represents the view of the author only. |
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