Responses
The questions of independence and the island's relationship to Mainland China are complex and inspire very strong emotions among Taiwanese people. There are some who continue to maintain the KMT position that the ROC is the sole legitimate government for all of China (including Taiwan) and that the aim of the government should be eventual reunification of the mainland and Taiwan under the rule of the ROC. Some say Taiwan has been, and should continue to be, completely independent from China and should operate as a sovereign nation. Then, there are numerous positions running the entire spectrum between these two extremes.
On October 25, 2004, in Beijing, the U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Taiwan is "not sovereign", provoking strong comments from both the Pan-Green and Pan-Blue coalitions – but for very different reasons. From the DPP's side, President Chen declared that "Taiwan is definitely a sovereign, independent country, a great country that absolutely does not belong to the People's Republic of China". The TSU (Taiwan Solidarity Union) criticized Powell, and questioned why the US sold weapons to Taiwan if it was not a sovereign state. From the KMT, Chairman Ma Ying-jeou announced that "the Republic of China has been a sovereign state ever since it was formed ". The pro-unification PFP Party Chairman, James Soong, called it "Taiwan's biggest failure in diplomacy". From an academic (and practical) standpoint, however, the current state of Taiwan's legal status is at best ambiguous. One of the fundamental tenets of international law with regard to statehood is that a state exists when it has the ability to enter into relations with other states, and Taiwan has only limited relations with other states. There are basically three major views of Taiwanese independence.
Read more about this topic: Taiwan Independence
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