"
They sai
d t
hey woul
dn'
t use i
t
,
but nobody bel
i
eved i
t
,
" says Mr
Chang, addi
ng t
hat t
he US
cer
t
ai
nl
y di
d not
.
Nowadays, t
her
e may st
i
l
l be
pol
i
t
i
ci
ans who coul
d be t
empt
ed
t
o use such weapons, t
hi
s t
i
me t
o
pur
sue Tai
wan'
s f
or
mal
i
ndependence f
r
om Chi
na at
what
ever cost
, he says.
But t
he DPP'
s Mr Wang di
smi
sses
t
hi
s not
i
on. "
We absol
ut
el
y don'
t
consi
der t
hi
s, we don'
t even t
hi
nk
about i
t
,
" he sai
d.
Over t
he year
s some Tai
wanese pr
esi
dent
s have hi
nt
ed at a desi
r
e t
o
r
eact
i
vat
e t
he i
sl
and'
s nucl
ear weapons pr
ogr
amme, but t
hese suggest
i
ons
have been qui
ckl
y quashed by Washi
ngt
on'
s obj
ect
i
ons. St
i
l
l
, t
he i
sl
and i
s
wi
del
y consi
der
ed t
o have t
he abi
l
i
t
y t
o make nucl
ear weapons qui
ckl
y i
f
needed. Chi
na has i
n r
ecent year
s t
hr
eat
ened t
o at
t
ack i
f Tai
wan ever
depl
oyed nucl
ear weapons.
'
I l
ove Tai
wan' Fol
l
owi
ng hi
s def
ect
i
on, Tai
wan'
s mi
l
i
t
ar
y l
i
st
ed Mr Chang as
a f
ugi
t
i
ve. But even af
t
er hi
s ar
r
est war
r
ant expi
r
ed i
n 2000, he has not
r
et
ur
ned t
o Tai
wan and does not pl
an t
o. He does not want t
o deal wi
t
h
cr
i
t
i
ci
sm he i
s sur
e he woul
d f
ace, and t
he negat
i
ve i
mpact t
hat woul
d have
on hi
s f
ami
l
y t
her
e.
I
n 1990, t
hey wer
e per
manent
l
y r
eset
t
l
ed i
n I
daho, wher
e Mr Chang wor
ked
as a consul
t
i
ng engi
neer and sci
ent
i
st at t
he US gover
nment
'
s I
daho
Nat
i
onal Labor
at
or
i
es unt
i
l he r
et
i
r
ed i
n 2013. He says hi
s onl
y r
egr
et i
s
t
hat he was not abl
e t
o see hi
s par
ent
s bef
or
e t
hey passed away.
"
You don'
t have t
o be i
n Tai
wan t
o l
ove Tai
wan; I l
ove Tai
wan,
" says Mr
Chang. "
I am Tai
wanese, I am Chi
nese. I don'
t want t
o see Chi
nese peopl
e
on bot
h si
des of t
he Tai
wan St
r
ai
t ki
l
l
i
ng each ot
her
.
"