I stumbled onto an essay (Chinese version here) on a proposal to best mend the tension in the Taiwan Straight by Taiwan’s National Policy Foundation. The heart of the essay is a proposal made by the NPF to reunite China and Taiwan under a concept pioneered by the British Empire, a Chinese Commonwealth.
The idea is that commonwealth nations behave as independently run and governed countries. They have the rights of an autonomous nation. However, under the umbrella of the commonwealth, these nations are actually “nation states” that pledge their ultimate allegiance to one power (in the case of the British Commonwealth, the Queen). The paper argues that, with this arrangement, Taiwan would retain all of its autonomy while enjoying one-nation status with China. Taiwan would be free to negotiate its own treaties, appoint its own ambassadors, regulate its trade and hold elections without interference from China, just like Great Britain does not interfere with any of its commonwealth nations (Canada, Australia, Malaysia… etc).
The paper also revealed that China had already considered such possibility back in 1997 when its supreme leader, Deng Xiaoping was still alive. But Taiwan had always held the position that unless China became demarcated, reunification wouldn’t be possible. The relationship with China worsened when a pro-independence president, Chen Shui-bien was elected (twice!).
Many scholars believe that the next century is going to be the Chinese century. And the reunification of China and Taiwan is going to be a key element in strengthening that position. Personally, I think Taiwan would be silly to go it alone in the next 50 years. Its people has the insight, cultural similarity and language to play a decisive role in being an active participant of the next economic wave through the success of China.
今天在電視上看到å°ç£çš„立委雷倩到美國來訪å•ã€‚她在ç£å€ä¸€å€‹è¯äººé›»è¦–ä¸Šè«‡åˆ°å€‹è »æœ‰è¶£çš„æ±è¥¿, 就是 “ä¸è¯åœ‹å””。其實這當ä¸çš„精髓是直接å‘大英å¸åœ‹æ™‚期沿留下的 “大英國唔 作為樣本。後來上網找了一下æ‰ç™¼ç¾é€™çŽ©æ„兒是由連戰啟辦的財團法人國家政ç–ç ”ç©¶åŸºé‡‘æœƒæ‰€ç™¼è¡¨çš„ä¸€ç¯‡è«–æ–‡ã€‚å…¶ä¸æ到了一些兩岸統一後的å‡è¨åŠå»ºè°ã€‚
è«–æ–‡ä¸æ到如果以國å”çš„æ–¹å¼çµ±ä¸€, å°ç£å°±å¯ä¿æœ‰å®ƒç¾åœ¨çš„自主權, 甚至å¯ä»¥ä»¥åœ‹å”çš„æ–¹å¼ç”³è«‹åŠ å…¥è¯åˆåœ‹ã€‚國å”çš„å‰æ當然就是一國兩制。就åƒè‹±åœ‹ç¾åœ¨ä¹Ÿå¾žä¾†ä¸æœƒä»‹ç®¡åŠ 拿大, 澳洲或馬來西亞ç‰åœ‹å”è¯ç›Ÿçš„任何大å°åœ‹äº‹ã€‚雖然這些國家å義上都已是有自主權的ç¨ç«‹åœ‹, ä»–å€‘æœ€çµ‚æ•ˆå¿ çš„é‚„æ˜¯è‹±åœ‹çš„çš‡åŽã€‚
我覺得å°ç¨é€™æ±è¥¿å¤ªä¸ç‚ºå°ç£å…©åƒå¤šè¬çš„人民著想了。å°ç¨å°å°ç£ä¸€é»žå¥½è™•éƒ½æ²’有。雖然大陸和å°ç£çš„文化和習俗上的確是入差很大, 但是回é 想想, 美國æ±, ä¸, 西岸也都有ä¸å°çš„差別… 更別æ到北部和å—部的差異了。所以以一個大國來講, 也許這是無法改變的形態。人家都說在ä¸ä¹…的將來會是ä¸åœ‹äººçš„世紀。在這時候æžå°ç¨æœªå…也太ä¸æœƒæŒ‘時間了姅 å°ç£åœ¨å¤§é™¸æœ‰ä»–國沒有的優勢, 包括語言, 文化, 背景ç‰ç‰éƒ½æŠŠå°ç£çš„人民擺在這個ä¸åœ‹äººä¸–紀改é©çš„最å‰ç·šã€‚如果時機錯éŽäº†, å°ç£åœ¨ç™¾å¹´å¾Œå¯èƒ½é€£åœ¨æ•™ç§‘書上也åªèƒ½ç•¶é™„註罷了。