TAIPEI, Taiwan, June 12 (UPI) -- Taiwan is ready to work with an alliance of Asia-Pacific islands to promote mutual development and peace in the region, the island's vice president told a group of delegates from 23 nations in Taipei.
And it may be time for China, the United States and other stakeholders in the region to rethink the one-China policy, two prominent Taiwanese scholars told participants of the Asia-Pacific Island Nations Summit II.
Receiving the representatives in her office, Vice President Annette Lu stressed the importance of cooperation among nations with shared democratic values. The group included both governmental and non-governmental delegates from Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and many smaller Pacific island nations.
On Thursday, Wang Jin-pyng, president of the Legislative Yuan and vice chairman of the opposition Kuomintang party, emphasized the same theme in his welcoming remarks to the group. His Taiwan Foundation for Democracy co-sponsored the conference.
The three-day summit convened in Taiwan in the midst of a political crisis, as President Chen Shui-bian faced a recall motion following an insider-trading scandal involving his son-in-law. Media reports Friday were filled with speculation concerning a power shuffle in the government -- including a report that former President Lee Teng-hui, considered the godfather of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, had suggested that both Chen and his premier, Su Tseng-chang, should be replaced by Annette Lu and Wang Jin-pyng, respectively.
Lu and Wang denied the report, and the cross-party alliance seemed unlikely.
However, in the midst of intense domestic upheaval, both leaders took time to address a conference proposing an alliance of island nations to offset what conference organizers described as a growing superpower interest in the islands.
They were not speaking of the United States.
"Fundamentally, we are witnessing the phenomena of the global rise of China coupled with decreased American attention to East Asia and the Pacific. China clearly wishes to become the dominant power in East Asia and the Pacific, reducing the influence both of the United States and Japan," said Dr. Mark Barry, senior research fellow for the UPF.
Island nations have long been viewed as booty in the diplomatic war between China and Taiwan, with both sides offering aid and trade in exchange for diplomatic ties, U.N. votes and resources such as fish and timber. Also, the islands lie along shipping routes that are of increasing importance to China as it goes shopping in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America for oil and other raw materials to feed its ravenous economic development.
With pressure and promises from China increasing, only a handful of Pacific islands retain diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
The number might be higher if the United States showed a greater interest in the region, said Johnson Toribiong, ambassador to Taiwan from the tiny island nation of Palau, population 25,000. The United States used to consider the region under its strategic umbrella, the ambassador pointed out. Now, however, U.S. preoccupation with Iraq and the war on terror have left a vacuum in Asia that China is more than eager to fill. Taiwan has enough economic power to hold on to some of its allies, but others are opting to side with China, seen as the inevitable long-term winner.
Beijing's one-China policy makes it impossible to maintain relations with both.
Thus Taiwan's leaders, in both major parties, are keen to make friends and allies among island nations, stressing the need to defend their shared interests, democratic values and cultural identities, in the face of what they view as China's hegemonic intentions.
Of course, from China's point of view, Taiwan has no business including itself in a grouping of island nations. To Beijing, Taiwan is a mere province, to be subjugated eventually, be it by economic or military might.
Two scholars at the conference challenged that position, suggesting it may be time for China and the international community to replace rhetoric with realism if peace and stability are to be preserved in Asia.
Dr. Chuan-fong Chang, director of the International Educational Foundation in Taiwan, argued that, while a unified China was a reality in the past and may be again one day, it is not the reality at present. Acknowledging this fact, he said, would pave the way for diplomatic relations between the two Chinas, allow both to hold U.N. seats and to negotiate a peaceful reunification, perhaps with mediation by the United States.
The one-China policy was increasingly likely to lead to war as China's power and confidence expand, unchecked by the United States or Japan, Chang said.
Joanne Chang, research fellow at the Institute of European and American Studies at the Academia Sinica in Taiwan, agreed. The growth of democracy in Taiwan had given the people a strong sense of identity, she said, while China's aggressive stance, its missile threats and its efforts to isolate Taiwan had built resentment and a sense of alienation from China, making peaceful unification less and less likely.
Among the island nations' delegates there were mixed views as to whether China's rise should be seen as benevolent or malevolent. Almost all agreed, however, that it was inevitable. They also agreed that it would be wise to work toward an alliance, to stimulate inter-island exchanges and trade, and to help protect natural and cultural resources.
It remains to be seen whether this non-governmental initiative can muster enough government support to give clout to such an alliance.
