An unlikely duo is keeping Taiwan’s unresolved international status before the American public. One member of the duo of is the Chair of the U.S, House of Representative’s powerful Foreign Affairs Committee, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, while the other is 92 year-old Taiwanese independence advocate, Su Beng, an avowed Marxist.
Representative Ros-Lehtinen, a Florida Republican, has scheduled Congressional hearings on “Why Taiwan matters“ for August 2nd to explore the Obama administration policy toward Taiwan, the second in a series of hearings by her committee Scheduled witnesses are Kurt Campbell from the State Department and Michael Schiffer with the Defense Department who are expected to explain the president’s views on Taiwan.
Meanwhile, Su Beng, the grandfather of the Taiwanese independence movement, has been making a month-long tour of the United States from his home in Taipei speaking to reporters and audiences throughout America. Although the audiences have largely been comprised of Taiwanese-Americans his message has gotten out to a larger population because of media attention and internet reporting.
Representative Ros-Lehtinen has been critical of the People’s Republic of China claim to own the island which remains occupied by the exiled Republic of China since the end of World War II despite the United States’ role as “principal occupying Power” under the San Francisco Peace Treaty. In an effort to prop up the failing government of Kuomintang dictator Chiang Kai-shek the Chinese Nationalist regime was imposed on the Formosan people by President Harry Truman. All subsequent U.S. administrations have allowed the exiled Chinese government to occupy the island.
When China’s leader, Hu Jintao, visited Washington, D.C. and was wined and dined by Barack Obama, the feisty Ros-Lehtinen confronted the Chinese leader during a stop at capital hill. The congressional hearings scheduled by Ros-Lehtinen are the first during Obama’s term in office. While the Democrats controlled the House, hearings on Taiwan were off-limits out of deference to Obama’s silence on Taiwan’s status.
In 2009, the District of Columbia U.S. Court of Appeals urged President Obama to “expeditiously” resolve Taiwan’s status as the people of the island live in “political purgatory” according to the court. The court stated the “strategic ambiguity” imposed by the United States infected everyday life of the 23 million island residents.
Su Beng, author of 400 Years of Taiwan History has been a champion of Taiwanese independence and has made liberation of the island his life’s work. Although Su Beng remains an advocate of theoretical Marxism he long ago renounced the authoritarian communism of the People’s Republic of China.
Su Beng has attracted audiences on both coasts and in Washington, D.C. While at Harvard University the indefatigable advocate was sidetracked during a question and answer period about Taiwanese independence with his economic views. Undeterred by the questioner, Su Beng quietly explained his revolutionary views were based on an interest in people not wealth.
As Taiwan’s military situation deteriorates because of a Chinese weapons build-up against the Republic of China in-exile, the pro-American views of newly-formed Taiwan Civil Government may begin to appeal to Obama. The self-determination group urges compliance with the San Francisco Peace Treaty as the solution to the longstanding “Taiwan question” and urges a stronger U.S. role in the island’s future.
For more information on Taiwan’s unresolved status click HERE.
Source: Michael Richardson - Boston Progressive Examiner
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