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On 1st October 1949, the People's Republic of China was formally established. After losing a civil war to the Communists, the Nationalists fled to Taiwan, an island province of China. China once ceded Taiwan to Japan at the end of the first Sino-Japanese War between 1894 and 1895. But since Japan lost in the World War II, the sovereignty of Taiwan was returned to the people of Taiwan. With the assistance of foreign power, the Nationalists became more aggressive and stood against the central power of China, hence created the “Taiwan Controversy”.

The People's Republic of China (PRC) is the sole legitimate government of China. The One China Policy is the principle that there is one China and both Mainland China and Taiwan are part of that China. The acknowledgement of the One China Policy is a requirement by the PRC government for the reunifications talks with the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan issue.

According to the Montevideo Convention of 1933, a state must possess a permanent population, a defined territory, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other states. The ROC claims that it meets all the criteria of being a state, because it has a sovereign government that exercises jurisdiction over a well defined territory with over 21 million permanent residents. Yet the PRC argues that the ROC does not meet the fourth criteria since it is only recognized by 27 countries (mostly in Central America and Africa ), also, it has been denied access to international organizations such as the UN.

Indeed, during the 1990s, PRC and ROC were seeking diplomatic support from small nations. Nevertheless, by 2001, this tug of war seems to have ended as a result of the growing economic power of the PRC.

In June 1995, the former Taiwanese leader Lee Teng-hui defined his visit to the United States with President Bill Clinton as “unofficial”. China was infuriated and talks with ROC were frozen for three years. At the same time, China denounced the rude action of the US . When the presidential elections in the island neared, China fired test missiles in the Taiwan Strait during March, which was said to be an attempt to influence in the election by show of force, made the Mainland-island relationship more tensed. The US responded by sending warships to the Straits. President Clinton ordered aircraft to patrol the area.

In 1997, as Britain prepared to return Hong Kong to China, Taiwan conducted live military exercise in the Straits. Experts said it was to demonstrate that Taiwan would not follow the Hong Kong example.

In May 1999, Leader Lee Teng-hui published a book called “With the People – Always in My Heart: Taiwan's Viewpoints”; advocated that China should be divided into seven regions: Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjiang, Mongolia, northeastern China, southern China, and northern China. Each region should have its own sovereignty. In the same year, Lee proposed the “Two-state Theory” in an interview with a German radio company, saying that the ROC and the PRC should be considered two separate states with a special diplomatic relationship which had deepened the anger of China. Talks between the two leaderships were cut off then. As Lee continued implying that Taiwan is not part of China and supporting the independence of Taiwan, he became the peace destructor of Taiwan and the trouble-maker in Pacific Asia.

In 2002, as the Taiwan presidential election came, the tension over Taiwan issue became stressed again. Chinese Premier Zhu Rong-ji threatened “bloodshed” if the Taiwanese voters “acted on impulse”. The statement was indirectly pointing at the supporters of Chen Shui-bien, whose party called for independence. Despite the threats, Chen won by collecting 39.9 per cent of the vote.

The Chinese government stated that anything can be negotiated under the One China Policy. However, the Two-state Theory is opposed to the One China Policy. It is about dividing China rather than reunifying China, and therefore, of course, cannot be accepted and tolerated by PRC.

Under Resolution 2758 adopted by the 1967 th Plenary session of General Assembly in October 1971, the representatives of the Government of the PRC are recognized as the only lawful representatives of China to the United Nations, while the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek/ ROC were expelled from the seat which they unlawfully occupied. Since 1991, the ROC has been wishing to participate in the UN and raising the question of the ROC's representation on the UN agenda committee by its diplomatic allies, but has always failed to get sufficient votes to get on the formal agenda because of the strong and firm opposition of the PRC.

The PRC requires that all countries with diplomatic relations with Beijing must agree with the One China Policy, and must not have formal diplomatic relations with the ROC. Any official cross-strait dialogue must take this policy as its starting point.

Because of China 's overwhelming influence in the region, even the two most powerful states of the world, Japan and the USA , have agreed with this policy despite many economic, political and historical contradictions.

Under the Joint Communiqué of the Government of Japan and the Government of the PRC held in 1972, the Government of Japan recognizes that the Government of the PRC as the sole legal Government of China. PRC reiterates that Taiwan is an inalienable part of the territory of the PRC. Japan fully understands and respects this stand of PRC. Both Governments agree to establish relations of peace and friendship between on the basis of the principles of mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, and non-interference in each other's internal affairs.

In the Shanghai Communiqué issued together by the American President Nixon and the Chinese Premier Zhou En-lai, the first Joint Communiqué of the USA and the PRC held in 1972, the USA declared that the Government of the PRC is the sole legal government of China; Taiwan is a province of China; the liberation of Taiwan is China's internal affair in which no other country has the right to interfere; and all US forces and military installations must be withdrawn from Taiwan. The US Government also affirmed the “three-nos” commitment, meaning no support to “independent Taiwan ”, no support to “two Chinas” or “one China , one Taiwan ”, no support to Taiwan 's entry into any international organizations that are made up of sovereign states. This “three-nos” commitment was made by the former US President Bill Clinton during his trip in Shanghai 1998.

Countries that have built diplomatic relations with Beijing can neither have any arm sales to Taiwan, nor form any kind of military alliance with Taiwan. These are basic principles that those countries must respect and follow.

But in 1982, during the negotiations for the Third United States – China Joint Communiqué on Arms Sales to Taiwan, the Taiwan Government presented the US with six points serve as guidelines in conducting US – Taiwan Relations. The six points are the US would not: 1) set a date for termination of arms sales to Taiwan; 2) alter the terms of Taiwan Relations Act; 3) consult with China in advance before making decisions about US arms sales to Taiwan; 4) mediate between Taiwan and China; 5) alter its position about the sovereignty of Taiwan which was, that the question was one to be decided peacefully by Chinese themselves, and would not pressure Taiwan to enter into negotiations with China; 6) formally recognize Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan.

The Chinese Government's irreplaceable stand on One China Policy has been accepted and supported by more and more countries and international organizations. They all understand and appreciate the Chinese Government of striving for a peaceful resolution off the Taiwan issue. They promise to handle and manage relations with Taiwan within the framework of One China Policy.

To some other international non-governmental organizations that allow the participation of Taiwan in it, the PRC Government has different policies toward this issue. In the case of APEC, ADB, IOC, WTO, the government on Taiwan has a special name of it – Chinese Taipei.

Look closer to our country to last November, the Philippine Secretary of the Foreign Affairs Ople said that the Philippines was very interested in interacting with Taiwan. But the contacts between the two nations, as a matter of policy, should be limited to economic, trade, tourism and culture and should not encompass political and security matters. In a nutshell, the Philippine government does not recognize the statehood of Taiwan, and adheres to One China Policy.

In recent days, Beijing has declared that it will use any means necessary, including armed intervention, to prevent Taiwan from declaring independence. This declaration is not made to threaten the Taiwan people, but to give warnings to the foreign powers who intend to fan the flames of Taiwan independence or interrupt the Chinese internal affairs. In The Art of War, a very remarkable book written for more than 2000 years, the Chinese philosopher Sun Tsu claims, “Best of all is to make an army yield without a single battle.” The Chinese of course have already known the consequences of bringing up a war, and thus, would not take military action as much as possible. Chinese people do not fight Chinese people, to reunify China by means of force is the last and least undesirable option.

The Chinese people have a strong sense of national unity. They will not forget the humiliating modern history when foreign invaders divided Chinese territories like a cake. Reunification with Taiwan, therefore, reflects the Chinese national interest of maintaining territorial integrity. It accounts for Beijing 's firm position on the “one China ” policy and its insistence that reunification be regarded as an internal affair.

In my opinion, the concept of federation can serve as the best solution to this issue. Since China has a very huge piece of land (behind only the USSR and the USA ), there are too many internal affairs in each region or province, the state, therefore, is very complicated and difficult to be managed and directed. Moreover, China inside has more than 50 ethnic groups (some cultures, beliefs, personalities or characters, and even cuisines are rather different from one another's); over 100 provincial dialects are spoken in the state (whereas Mandarin is the official and common language); two writing systems (tradition and simplified) are used within the state; a federation appears to bond these diverse nations a unified Chinese state while guaranteeing substantial autonomy to different nations.

Taiwan says it also wants reunification, but China has to be democratic first. This is an excuse to deceive the Taiwanese people and the global audiences. Under the “one country, two systems” founded by the former Chinese President Deng Xiao-ping, two different social systems can co-exist, which means both sides can continue with their own social ideologies. Mainland China will insist on practicing socialism, while Taiwan remains as a capitalistic region. The Government of PRC has hence already been exercising democracy on Taiwan. Furthermore, China has already noticed the different features and characteristics between Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau, so after the peaceable reunification, the practice of “one China , two systems” on Taiwan can be more lenient than that on the latter two regions. China would afford to provide Taiwan with wider autonomy. Thus, wanting democracy should not become the reason of refusing reunification.

In fact, China is not demanding, all she wants is a unified and united state. Why do the Chinese people on this island not just compromise over this little and simple wish of all the Chinese people in the world?