Taipei, April 15 (CNA) There have been many "inconvenient truths" in the Taiwan-China issue for the international community, of which almost everyone is aware but few wish to discuss, including the status quo, a former U.S. official said Sunday.
Stephen Yates, former deputy assistant to U.S. Vice President Cheney for national security affairs from 2001 - 2005, questioned the very concept of a status quo, saying: "There is no such thing as a status quo. [The Taiwan Strait] is a dynamic region. Forces are changing."
Yates, speaking at an international seminar, said he would personally define the status quo as "defending Taiwan's democratic way of life." For many countries, though, the status quo in Taiwan Strait amounts to "Please, don't act and speak up now," he said.
Another inconvenient truth concerns China's "road of peace, " he said, echoing a question submitted by current ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Yu Shyi-kun in his U.S. tour: "After China's peaceful rise, will there be peace and democracy? Will other democracies in the region be at an advantage or a disadvantage?"
"Should we make East Asia safer for democracy, or make democracy safer for East Asia? " said Yates, was yet another dilemma for the international community, but the answer, for him, was obviously the latter.
Putting the reality of international politics and military aside, Taiwan should try to let the world know what it is doing in other fields, Yates said.
With Taiwan's experience in civil rights, he would be glad to see non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from Taiwan organize a series of seminars in the most important civil rights institutes around the world.
There are many fields that Taiwan can work on, such as high tech, civil rights and business, to let the international community know that it can't afford to have Taiwan absorbed by China, he stressed.
With the September 11 terrorist attack in 2001 and the current unpopular military engagement in the Middle East, it is assumed that most Americans would be hesitant to commit to another international military engagement should Taiwan face a military situation, he said.
That is why Taiwan should increase its value to the international community, Yates said.
The one-day seminar, titled "Taiwan's Rise to Democracy: Realities and Prospects", was organized by the DPP.