Chinchung John Won – a Taiwanese American in California, USA, March 6, 2008. 翁錦鐘 ─ 一位台美人在2008年3月6日寫於美國加州)
When you are at the poll station on March 22, 2008, you will need to decide to elect Mr. Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) or Mr. Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) as your next president. Mr. Hsieh advocates Taiwan sovereignty, while Mr. Ma advocates a closer tie to and eventual unification with China. The first question you should ask yourself would be “Which policy will best serve my interest?” Is a closer tie to China better for the majority of people in Taiwan or does it only benefit entrepreneurs who are investing in China. It is well known that China has low labor cost and is irresponsible to the environmental protection.

To the investors they all know very well why they embrace the closer tie to China policy. However Taiwanese people need to think this very carefully. A closer tie to China means opening a floodgate of capital investment in China, but also cheap Chinese labor, low-priced, and sometimes unsafe and unhealthy, Chinese products and foods come to Taiwan. Originally the jobs that should be in Taiwan are now in China since the investment has created the jobs in China. Many young professionals working in China have left their families behind in Taiwan. The family lives are not as sweet since their children see the parent(s) only once in a while. Seeing a child grow is the most enjoyable in one’s life, and if he or she misses it, it is gone forever. Cheap Chinese labor, including high-tech professionals, in Taiwan will replace many Taiwanese jobs and drag down Taiwanese incomes for those who can luckily still keep their jobs. This will certainly uproot the resources that many Taiwanese families rely upon.

The San Jose Mercury News in California reported on December 14, 2007 that Chinese moms would pay extra for toys that carried foreign brand names. The Chinese mothers do not have confidence on the Chinese made toys. Searching for phrase-Internet Censorship in Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.com), you will find China, together with North Korea and Myanmar, among nations that spy the Internet usage of their people. China has over 30,000, the size of population in Hsinchu City, so-called Internet Police Task Force to implement the Internet censorship.

This reminds me that the KMT took one step further to spy at overseas Taiwanese students at every campus in the United States until the 1990’s. Will China implement its Internet censorship to the people in Taiwan? The answer is a NO if Taiwan maintains its sovereignty, but it will certainly be a YES in case Taiwan is unified with China. China cannot tolerate the freedom of speech.