China and Taiwan: reunification or confrontation?

source: Socialism Today - China and Taiwan: reunification or confrontation?

"THE SITUATION TODAY is in some ways analogous to the first years of the last century, when a ferocious imperialist ‘land grab’ redrew the political map of Asia. US imperialism has undertaken a series of provocative moves reflecting the abiding influence of neo-conservative warmongers inside the Bush administration. The ‘neocons’, who describe Japan as the "Britain of the Far East" (ie a military satellite of US imperialism), are pushing the nationalist government of Junichiro Koizumi to abandon Japan’s post-war ‘pacifist’ constitution and remilitarise, providing the US arms industry with a gigantic new market."

"THE QUESTION OF reunification or independence for Taiwan cannot be viewed separately from the interests of the working class in China, Taiwan and the entire region. The Chinese regime has made the reincorporation of Taiwan the touchstone of its nationalist vision of a Great (capitalist) China. Championing the market economy and no longer able to effectively (mis)use the language of ‘socialism’ in an attempt to preserve a social base, the CCP is dependent upon nationalism to divert the attention of the masses from rising unemployment and other social ills. Consequently, any cross-strait deal concluded on the basis of the present regime would inevitably buttress its hold on the provinces and the oppression of non-Han (Han is the ethnic term for Chinese) peoples such as the Uighurs, Hui and Tibetans. The hollowness of the regime’s nationalist message is shown by its treatment of 130 million migrant workers from the poorer inland provinces – Han Chinese who, nevertheless, face semi-racist discrimination and police harassment in the cities where they work."

"Socialists stand for the right of self-determination for the Taiwanese people. But the cross-strait issue – or national question inside Taiwan – is sharply polarised. The island has experienced a growth of national identity over the last two decades, with the proportion regarding themselves as Taiwanese rather than Chinese rising from 18% in 1992 to 40% today. But an even bigger share – 50% – sees itself as both. The DPP leadership, having embraced the capitalists’ neo-liberal agenda, has failed to convince the population as a whole on the case for independence. The vast majority prefer to keep things as they are. In other words, they do not relish reunification with the mainland but neither do they want a definitive break. This situation is compounded by the political monopoly enjoyed by the two bourgeois blocs – pan-blue and pan-green – whose position on attacking the working class is largely identical."

"The key ingredient lacking in both Taiwan and China today is a workers’ party standing firmly for the unity of the working class, for socialist policies and complete independence from the bosses’ parties, whether blue, green or fake red. Such a party would call for a democratic socialist Taiwan and a democratic socialist China, and use this idea to capture the imagination of workers on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. On the basis of socialism, through the drawing up of a democratic plan of production for the region’s resources, relations between Taiwan and China – whether in the form of independence, reunification or a new federal configuration extending to other countries in the region – could be decided on a democratic and voluntary basis.

Workers’ organisations can give no support to agreements concocted between the Chinese and Taiwanese capitalists. Of course, socialists welcome any reduction in cross-strait tensions, which can present an opportunity to break the nationalists’ grip on politics and advance the idea of a socialist alternative. But for this to happen, workers must act independently of capitalist governments and parties, forging concrete links instead between workers on both sides of the Strait. The socialist answer to the CCP-KMT talks (and any future deal involving the DPP) is ‘closer links from below’: involving workers, farmers, environmentalists, women’s rights campaigners and other groups fighting for change. There can be no permanent solution to the cross-strait issue on the basis of capitalism and imperialism. The economic, political and – in future – military scramble unfolding, as Asia’s new capitalist titans rub up against each other, opens a period of social explosions, shifting alliances and inevitable clashes. Only the working class of the region, by building its organisations across national frontiers, can offer a way forward."