Reuters published a statement by Chinese President Hu Jintao today, that provides insight into the pragmatism/hypocrisy of the UN and the US. He praised Obama for repeatedly upholding the “One China policy”, which, for the People’s Republic of China (Mainland China), is the euphemism for not recognizing Taiwan, (Republic of China, ROC) as an independent nation, but as a secessionist province. For Taiwan, “One China” is the increasingly ridiculous claim that they are the true government of mainland China and their island, Formosa.
Taiwan has only recently achieved a true democracy, when in the year 2000, the Kuomintang party, lost the presidential election for the first time since its inception. Incidentally, this is similar to Japan’s democratic party victory this year, the first since WWII, and Mexico’s Insitutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which in 2000 lost the presidential race for the first time in 70 years.
The ROC has been effectively independent from mainland China for 60 years. During the Cold War, the UN and the US sided with the ROC, but in the seventies they switched their allegiance. A pre-requisite for anyone with diplomatic relations with Taiwan is the recognition of its claim over both Chinas. The fact that the “One China” principle still exists is an insult to the intelligence of both Chinas, and an altar to self-induced blindness.
Could Taiwan’s isolation have been Honduras’s fate? Not surprisingly, Taiwan was one of the few nations, besides Israel, who recognized Roberto Micheletti’s regime as the legitimate government of Honduras.
This is what is at stake in the current election in Honduras. To oppose the election is to doom Honduras to the fate of Taiwan or Cuba. To uphold them is the way for all Hondurans to choose the government that suits them, and enjoy world recognition. Without elections there can only be dictatorship, either of Micheletti or of Zelaya. Let’s pray that Zelaya and Chavez won’t succeed in derailing them.
¡Viva la libertad!
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