President-elect Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) last campaign ad prior to the presidential election used the slogan “We are ready!”
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was ready to win, but two weeks after that victory, Ma doesn’t seem prepared for the responsibilities he will soon shoulder.
To show his willingness to mend US-Taiwan relations, Ma said after his victory that he wanted to visit the US before his inauguration.
As Ma had not consulted with Washington over the issue, his remarks put the US in an awkward position and neither side seems to know how to handle the situation.
One of Ma’s election promises was to set up chartered cross-strait weekend flights and he wants to fulfill this promise and open the nation to Chinese tourism as soon as possible. But the deadline he has set for this— the first weekend of July — is proving difficult for the agencies that handle cross-strait contacts, the Mainland Affairs Council and the Straits Exchange Foundation. These organizations are still administered by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Ma’s team can do nothing until he takes office.
Airline industry representatives handling aviation talks have also complained that Ma is pushing too hard and too fast for changes and thereby undermining the nation’s negotiating advantages, while the military says that plans to operate cross-strait flights out of Taipei Songshan Airport could impinge on national security.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has the upper hand on many cross-strait issues. The CCP may prove more willing to show goodwill toward Ma than to the DPP, but there will still be limitations. Beijing will not back down on blocking Taiwan from securing observer status at the WHO, even if Ma offers to use the title “Chinese Taipei.” In any case, Ma is jumping the gun on these issues and undermining the outgoing administration’s application using the name “Taiwan.”
There are many issues to deal with in cross-strait relations and there is no need for Ma to bring up the issue of sovereignty before he has even been inaugurated, especially when doing so runs counter to his election pledges.
Former National Security Bureau secretary-general Ting Yu-chou (丁渝洲) has said that Ma’s actions and remarks since the election have broken his promise to be a humble president serving the interests of the public. Several unwise statements have been particularly unhelpful.
It seems that Ma is still in campaign mode, still focusing on wooing the public with promises. But Ma must realize that the public is already holding him to presidential standards. He must exhibit a capacity for caution and strategic thinking — the smallest indiscretion could have domestic and international repercussions.
Ma’s honeymoon will be short. Those with high expectations will want to see quick and concrete results, while opponents will be waiting to pounce on his every mistake.
From now on, Ma will be under constant scrutiny from all sides. His first step should be to listen more, say less and be cautious.
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