Ma: Taiwan = ROC | Hsieh: Ma's making progress!
KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said that "Taiwan is the ROC" during a speech at the "re-enter the UN" rally on Saturday (Michael Turton has a post on the rally). He said the reason some people want independence for Taiwan is that "the mainland is doing everything it can to destroy the ROC."
This is being billed as a sort of policy shift toward localizing for Ma, and is rumored to have caused an internal debate within the KMT. However, KMT legislative whip Kuo Su-chun (郭素春) toed the line for Ma, adding that saying 'Taiwan is the ROC" or "the ROC is Taiwan" are identical statements, and it doesnt' matter how you phrase it.
The People's First Party is in denial, saying Ma's statement merely describes the status quo and is not in conflict with the constitution, which claims the entire mainland China and Mongolia as part of the ROC's territory.
DPP chairman Yu Shyi-kun more or less called Ma a copy cat for adopting a long-held DPP position, while DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh welcomed Ma's progress while sneaking in a comment that a president should be a leader, not a follower.
The presidential office asked the best question: Ma should state clearly if he believes the ROC's territory includes mainland China. Because the KMT has such problems answering questions like that, I believe they still can't convince people on the identity issue.
3 comments:
He's edging in that direction (Taiwan is the ROC) but he ain't quite there yet.
「Kuo Su-chun (郭素春) toed the line for Ma, adding that saying 'Taiwan is the ROC" or "the ROC is Taiwan" are identical statements, and it doesnt' matter how you phrase it.」
What Kuo actually said is:
'Taiwan is the ROC" and "the ROC in Taiwan" are identical in spirit.
which is even more far-fetched.
some things shouldn't need to be explained clearly.
ROC is Taiwan, Taiwan is ROC or even ROC in Taiwan explanations are acceptable to the blue and green camps in the island.
even most green camp can see and accept the fact that Taiwan is part of ROC as PRC have claimed Taiwan not ROC as their territory. In titles - PRC and ROC are state entries that are equal but not Taiwan which is a province of both PRC and ROC.
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