Newspaper Article
When hands say what can't be voiced

And beware of claims about 'One China'

During the last few years of the Cultural Revolution, when the Chinese people experienced the loss of life and personal suffering of millions of their comrades. The blame for this was placed on the so-called Gang of Four, which included Mao's infamous wife, Chiang Ching. When people mentioned the Gang of Four, they would often hold up four fingers on one hand and one finger on the other. The extra finger and number represented the unspoken culprit, Mao Tse-tung himself.

I and my fellow scholars were among the first academic group to visit China in the throes of the Cultural Revolution. In 1972, a colleague who was one of the rare holders of a Ph.D. in Chinese language and history, talked freely with his guide about the experiences of the Chinese people. He was told how wonderful life had become under Chairman Mao the revolutionary Red Guards. Many years later, he miraculously met up with this formerly friendly and informative guide. The guide was very angry. He asked my colleague why he did not know that all he heard then were lies. After all, he was a Professor of Chinese Language and History. How could he not see through the propaganda, and the fabrications.

Today, we experience the same type of conversations. We are told by many journalists that the people in China believe in reunification with Taiwan-peacefully if possible and by force if necessary. The journalists, and a few scholars as well, fail to tell us that a poll taken by the China Youth News was censored because the majority reported that they did not want to fight over Taiwan. We are not told that every month government workers have to attend study sessions where they read and then are examined on the latest Party teachings. Doing well on the test gets them an eventual advancement in their job; doing poorly will get them demoted.

In ten years, after the campaign to repossess Taiwan has abated, former informants will ask their interviewers why they believed in the answers. One can imagine that if the Chinese used their fingers to answer the question if they believed in One China, that they would put their thumb up on one hand, and behind their back they would be thumbs up with the other hand.

Even when Kissinger and Nixon issued the Shanghai Declaration in 1972 which established the litany that there was only One China, they knew that there were two. Kissinger called Taiwan a little irritant. Congress created the Taiwan Relations Act to protect the small One China from the large One China. Furthermore, no one asked Taiwan about the diplomatic mathematics or the real politik number theory involved in this clever magical maneuver.

Suddenly Taiwan has publicly raised the other finger. There is not just One China. The President-elect, Chen Shui-bian, has made it very clear that Taiwan is an independent, sovereign state. Due to international pressure from China and the U.S., he has not declared the full Independence of Taiwan. But as an international law lawyer, and as a human rights politician, he knows that Taiwan has been, and is, an authentic state in all but name. His election substantially expresses the will of the people in a democratic way. Once China has a free and democratic election, we will know for sure if the Chinese people are counting on one finger or two. Until then, it is absurd to claim that there is only One China.