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St. Catharines, Ont. -- When I was a student in China in the 1970s, one of the
popular songs of the day translated as We Certainly Must Liberate the
Island of Taiwan. In those days it was framed as a struggle between
competing ideologies -- Marxist revolution v. free-market capitalism. Now it
has morphed into competing nationalisms. This makes it a much more dangerous
dynamic, as the precedents of Belfast,
Kosovo and so many others prove.
The question of identity, the matter of people's
souls, could well lead to terrible violence between China and Taiwan that neither
side wants and that serves no one's interest. Accusations that the
assassination attempt on Chen Shui-bian was likely
faked (Protests Follow Close Taiwan Vote -- March 22) add oil to this
political fire as his presidency's legitimacy is now in doubt.
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