Sunday marks the 70th anniversary of Taiwan's recovery from Japanese occupation. Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou, at a commemorative event in Taiwan, stressed the role of the government of the Republic of China in recovering Taiwan. Ma also admitted that Japanese colonists had contributed to the island, but he asked Japan to face up to its atrocities and correct its view of history.

Other veterans of the ruling Kuomintang Party (KMT) have also made remarks on the event. Hau Pei-tsun emphasized how the entire Chinese nation, under the leadership of Chiang, won the war; Chu Li-luan, the party's nominee for the next year's election, showed concerns about what the opposing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) would think about the event, on which the DPP's nominee Tsai Ing-wen had not made any comment as of press time.

Taiwan has profoundly distorted its values. Although the KMT still insists on commemorating the recovery of Taiwan, Ma's speech was addlebrained and even included compliments for the Japanese colonists. Given its political climate, a memorial gathering seems to be what Taiwan can best do. We Chinese mainlanders had better not care too much about the details of Ma's statement.

Separatism is rising in Taiwan. The KMT mainstream is ambiguous over sovereignty issues, and Hung Hsiu-chu, a committed supporter of the One-China policy, had to resign from the center of the political arena. The mainland does not have effective measures so far other than to encourage Taiwan to adopt a mild approach to the mainland.

Japan occupied Taiwan for half a century, but it had to return it to China at last. Taiwan separatists can hardly do more than that. Tolerant of Taiwan's tricks, the mainland values the big picture of peace and development. But these extreme forces in Taiwan should keep in mind that if there is a showdown for the unity of the country, the mainland will take decisive measures and resolve the Taiwan question for good.

Now the DPP has an edge in the ongoing election, and there are concerns that it will reactivate separatism, challenging the results of the positive cross-Straits relations. The mainland should, through different channels, inform the DPP that for every backward step they make in cross-Straits relations, they will pay great costs.