Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Opponents of the fourth-stage development project at the Central Taiwan Science Park say the government should immediately halt the project after the Taipei High Administrative Court revoked the development permit issued to Central Taiwan Science Park Administration yesterday.

The ruling from the High Administrative Court has made the project the first case in the country in which the development permit was revoked. It could potentially disrupt the government’s plan to turn the Erlin Science Park — the site reserved for the park’s fourth stage development project — into a precision-industry park as well.

China’s leaders are fond of saying that “Taiwan is an inalienable part of China; sacred territory that cannot be separated from China.” This idea suffers from two fundamental flaws:

First, what exactly do they mean by inalienable? Territory changes hands. One of the main reasons this might happen is war, and territories have shifted in the periods of considerable chaos and carnage that have accompanied every dynastic change in Chinese history. The borders and territories claimed by the Qin, Han, Tang and Song dynasties were all different.