Promise with Chiang Ching-kuo to unify China democratically
The Republic of China’s former president Chiang Ching-kuo, passed away in 1988. Former president Chiang played a pivotal role in liberalizing authoritarian Taiwan before his death, which has earned him praise from people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. As Taiwan underwent its democratic transition, the overseas Chinese democracy movement also saw rapid growth under the leadership of Dr. Wang Bingzhang.
Even though, there isn’t any relevant research literature on whether Chiang Ching-kuo’s political thought has been influenced by or changed because of the Chinese overseas democracy movement. but it can be said with certainty that Chiang Ching-kuo has undoubtedly placed a high hope on the overseas Chinese democracy movement since the end of 1982.
According to documents, on December 1 of that year, Chiang Ching-kuo wrote to his New York-based stepmother Song Meiling, to say, “Regarding Dr. Wang Bingzhang’s “China Spring” initiative, we have been in communication, observing them, and hope to guide this initiative in the right direction towards a noble cause for the nation.”
Actually, Dr. Wang Bingzhang and Chiang Ching-kuo interacted frequently. Dr. Wang Bingzhang once wrote an article to recall his interactions with Chiang Ching-kuo:
Early in 1983, Mr. Chiang Ching-kuo, the President of the Republic of China at the time, sent a representative to meet with me in secret in New York. He said he was eager to cooperate earnestly with the mainland Chinese democracy movement to overthrow the CCP’s autocracy and unify China democratically. I recall that the representative for President Chiang Ching-kuo stated that complete confidentiality was the only requirement for this collaboration. At the time, even the Premier of the Republic of China and the Minister of National Defense were unaware of this cooperation between the government of Republic of China and the mainland Chinese democracy movement. President Chiang Ching-kuo personally led a workgroup to collaborate with us. This workgroup was also once led by Mr. James Soong, who reported directly to President Chiang Ching-kuo.
Given the special political climate of the moment, I suggested to President Chiang Ching-kuo and his representative the “Four Principles” of sincere cooperation:
(I) The principle of independence. “China Spring” and the mainland Chinese democracy movement are completely independent politically.
(II) The principle of equality. The cooperation between the mainland Chinese democracy movement with the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Government of Republic of China was based on the principle of mutual respect and equality.
(III) The principle of confidentiality.
(IV) The principle of criticism. That is: We will criticize the KMT wherever it should be criticized.
Mr. Chiang Ching-kuo agreed to all these principles. Especially regarding the principle of criticism, President Chiang Ching-kuo remarked: “The KMT does has many problems, and it should be criticized.”
President Chiang Ching-kuo’s government representative made the following statement: President Ching-kuo hopes that through joint efforts, our generation can overthrow the CCP’s dictatorship, establish a democratic system on the mainland of China, and finish reunifying China.
Till this day, Chiang Ching-kuo’s wish for ” unify China democratically ” has not been fulfilled, which is regrettable. From Dr. Wang Bingzhang’s recollection, we can see that Chiang Ching-kuo had exceedingly high hopes for China’s democratic movement and sincerely hoped that China could quickly embark on the path of democratic transition. Dr. Wang Bingzhang also described the close cooperation between the mainland Chinese democracy movement and the Republic of China during President Chiang Ching-kuo’s time like family.
Mr. Chiang Ching-kuo should rest in peace knowing that Taiwan’s democratic politics have matured and that its citizens live and work in peace and contentment. But what is even more admirable is that Wang Bingzhang, even at the age of nearly 80, remained unwavering in his ideal of promoting democratization in China and paid a heavy price for it.
Committee to Rescue Wang Bingzhang
December 3, 2024
