DPP can't endorse separatist campaign with falsity

Tsai Ing-wen speaks during a press conference in Taipei, Taiwan, April 15, 2015. [Photo/IC]

With the 70th anniversary of the "Feb 28 Incident" in Taiwan around the corner, the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League, one of the eight non-communist parties on the Chinese mainland, held a seminar in Beijing on Thursday where participants emphasized the need to clarify and commemorate what happened on that day seven decades ago.

The incident refers to an uprising that began on Feb 28, 1947, and resulted in a brutal crackdown on protesters by the then ruling Kuomintang troops in the following two months. An estimated thousands of people, locals as well as those from other provinces, were killed and many had to suffer the consequences of being blacklisted.

The Democratic Progressive Party, which is now in office in Taiwan, has more than once attempted to fan anti-mainland sentiments on the island by smearing the incident as a clash between "locals" and "non-locals".

The local government reportedly even removed a bronze statue of Chiang Kai-shek in the southern city of Tainan on Feb 21, to "protect" it from "willful saboteurs". The dubious move has unnecessarily complicated efforts to revisit the bloodshed 70 years ago, which An Fengshan, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the mainland, said on Wednesday is a "righteous anti-autocracy struggle led by Taiwan compatriots to defend their lawful rights".

The mainland has long regarded the incident as part of the Chinese people's fight for liberation, while separatist-minded DPP politicians tend to describe it as a "clash of clans". Over the past three decades or so the DPP has been spreading falsity about the incident to not only attack the opposition Kuomintang, but also lure Taiwan residents to endorse its separatist campaign.

The truth is, the "Feb 28 Incident" was a political struggle against the authoritarian rule of the Kuomintang in 1947, and most of the victims were elite members of society who fought for the liberation of the Chinese people.

The mainland's candidness, as evident at Thursday's seminar in Beijing, is not just about revisiting and promoting well-documented yet little-known facts of the uprising, but also aimed at helping the young compatriots in Taiwan know real history. It is a worthy attempt to marginalize the secessionists on the island and put cross-Straits exchanges back on the right track.

Peaceful development, as An reiterated on Wednesday, remains the fundamental stabilizer of cross-Straits relations, to which the island's "pro-independence" forces pose a grave threat. Given its longstanding opposition to the Kuomintang, the DPP is likely to continue belittling its political legitimacy by rewriting history, the "Feb 28 Incident" included, in its favor.

Concerns are also rising over the recent termination of the island's team leading the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, which was signed by both sides of the Straits in 2010 to promote economic cooperation by lowering tariffs and trade barriers.

Since these are ominous signs that the already strained cross-Straits ties could suffer another blow, rational minds on both sides have to intensify their vigilance and respond more proactively to control the situation.

The author is a professor at the Institute of Taiwan Studies, Beijing Union University.

The article is an excerpt from his interview with China Daily's Cui Shoufeng.