With his second and last term coming to an end in less than a year, President Chen Shui-bian seems planning to practice law in the United States.Of course, he can’t do that at once.He has to pass the bar examination, which is next to impossible for him to pass.Besides, the case he appears interested in taking is one involving a district attorney rather than a defense lawyer he used to be prior to starting his political career.A district attorney is elected.There’s no chance Chen can get that elected job.
The case in question is China versus the United States.In meeting members of the Congressional Black Caucus at his office, President Chen charged the People’s Republic of China with violating the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979.Citing Section Two of the TRA, Chen tried to throw the book at Beijing for adopting an anti-secession law in March 2006 to codify an automatic invasion of Taiwan when Taipei declares independence.That section stipulates that the U.S. decision to establish diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China “rests upon the expectation that he future of Taiwan will be determined by peaceful means,” while Washington considers “any effort to determine the future of Taiwan by other than peaceful means, including boycotts” to be “a threat to the peace and security of the Western Pacific and of grave concern to the United States.”
Moreover, President Chen is convinced that Beijing’s obstruction of Taiwan’s effort to participate in the World Health Organization and the United Nations also violates Article 2 of the TRA.He characterized it as an attempt to deprive the people of Taiwan of their fundamental human rights which should be reaffirmed as “objectives of the United States.”He also cited Section Four that declares “nothing in this Act may be construed as a basis for supporting the exclusion or expulsion of Taiwan from continued membership in an international financial institution or any other international organization.”
In a video conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., a couple of days earlier, President Chen argued that the TRA recognizes Taiwan as a country, as its Section 4 affirms that the absence of diplomatic relations with Taiwan should not affect the application of American laws with respect to Taiwan.He forgot the TRA was signed into law for the benefit of conducting relations between Taiwan and the United States after Washington had officially derecognized Taipei.
With due respect, we wish to point out President Chen, who is one of Taiwan’s best defense lawyers, has no grounds to indict the People’s Republic of China in any U.S. court of law for violation of the Taiwan Relations Act, which is a domestic law the Congress forced upon Jimmy Carter’s administration following the severance of diplomatic ties between Washington and Taipei at the beginning of 1979.We seriously doubt that he understands the letters as well as the spirit of that piece of legislation which has become one of the four pillars of U.S. Taiwan policy.The TRA does not prohibit Beijing from publishing the anti-secession law.The concern and aims expressed in the TRA do not forbid Beijing to obstruct Taiwan’s readmission to the WHO and the UN.
Perhaps, President Chen has been a politician for too long a period of time to get rusty as an attorney at law.He needs to take a number of refresher courses in law, particularly in international law, and learn to acquire a working command of English – it will take a long time to complete them both – if he wants to initiate litigation against China in any court outside Taiwan.
（本文刊載於96.06.04 China Post第4版，本文代表作者個人意見）