Spring break...hmm...

Today on the car to Englewood Cliff (getting some Korean food and snacks), mom and I chatted... LOL... I was telling her things that happened in school during the past 2 months and discussing about the war in Iraq. While we were talking about the war, something somewhat related to war/politics struck me. It happened on Sunday night while I was walking back with Mr. C and his friend (supposedly my "brother" on the floor).

This brother of mine that I'd never talked to (not because I didn't try to talk to him, but because he never responds to any of my "hello"s) asked me a question all of a sudden while we were walking back from the Union to Brody. "What do you think about Taiwan and China?" I was stunned for a second, thinking out loud, "Taiwan and China? You mean the relationship between Taiwan and China politically?"

"Yeah. What do you think? Should Taiwan be independent or be part of China?"

"um..." I didn't want to say anything, because I know if I say what I think it should be there is going to have some disagreement. Mr. C saw me becoming quiet, so he urged me to answer the question saying that they are really curious about how an insider feels about this political issue.

"Well," said I, "I personally don't think there is any good for Taiwan to be independent, because all the big companies have moved to mainland. If Taiwan really becomes independent, the whole economy would be dead inside Taiwan."

Both of them were surprised at my answer. Perhaps, they thought I support the communist government in mainland.

"So you support the communist government in mainland?" asked Mr. C's friend in a really hostile voice (at least that what I heard from his voice).

"No, I didn't say that. I don't really care what kind of government they decide to have as a united country. I just think the two should be one nation again... Chinese people should unite and act as one country instead of two separate ones. That's just what I think it should be--the oneness."

"How can you not care what kind of government they have?! So you don't care whether it be communist or democratic? Have you thought about what the communist government did to its youth in the 80s? They killed their own students! What about all the other people that they kill long ago?" asked Mr. C's friend again.

I KNEW that... I knew that this would come sooner or later after I put my thoughts out in front of these people... ARGH.

"I don't care about the form of government they have. Not really. It is up to them to decide whether they want to be communist or democratic. As for the people who got killed in the 80s, I can't really say anything. However, China has changed so much that it is no longer like the one in the 80s. They have improved and changed a lot, for the better. I don't think a republic-democracy is any better if you look at the government in Taiwan... All they know is yelling at each other and talking about things without really doing much. What's the difference?"

"So you DON'T CARE about those who died at all?" Then he continues on with how the communist China indirectly killed lots of Indian people and caused their country to be unstable, etc. etc...

"Not really...People get killed in wars... You can't really stop people dying from wars. It is inevitable. I just want the two countries, ha if you call Taiwan a real country even though the US doesn't even admit it is a country, to be one."

I knew it would be useless to say any more. Besides, anything that I am going to say will not enter their ears anyway... They don't know what is really going on inside the two countries, and they just want to get me to admit that democracy is the best government form. I think democracy is pretty good, but it would be hard for it to work in China just to think about the huge number of population and the history of China.

He didn't stop asking those questions even though I remained silent for a whole minute. He kept going and going. I had decided to let him bombard those questions and that I am not going to answer any of those questions anymore. I had enough, and I knew if I had kept defending my point of view I would surely cry because they never really listened.

After I told mom about this whole story, she agreed with me that she would want to have one China, too. She gave me a really good analogy, "Think about it this way. Say, if Michigan state, any of the 50 states, one day says to the whole nation, 'Hey, I want to be independent. You must let me become independent,' what would the US do if all negotiations fail? Wouldn't the US fight and make sure that Michigan stays? Of course, it will have to fight and make sure Michigan remains in the US, or else other states would start to say, 'Hey, I want to be independent!' China and Taiwan are just like that. Besides, Taiwan has always been part of the mainland until after the civil war, but then it was still called 'Taiwan province' until a few years ago when the government in Taiwan decided to cross out the 'province' title." It made sense...not that we support the type of government there, but Chinese people should just be united because they had always been united.

sigh...let's hope that the problem b/w the two will get resolved peacefully and come to an agreement... Even if the two decide to have two cooperating government functions and one single nation, that would be satisfying enough...

P.S. Everything above reflects only my personal opinion... Please don't get offended if you think otherwise.