The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has released a statement rejecting comments by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has been rushing into the relaxation of cross-strait policies and that the lack of clear accompanying measures to handle problems this could cause represent an unprecedented threat to Taiwan’s sovereignty.
The MAC said the majority of relaxed cross-strait policies promoted by the government had been promoted by the DPP government, and are in line with what the public wants and beneficial to Taiwan’s economic development.
Direct cross-strait charter flights and allowing a greater number of Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan are policies promulgated by the former government. However, Beijing chose to ignore them so that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) could use them during his electoral campaign. In order to make these changes a reality, however, Beijing had to sacrifice agreements on chartered cargo flights negotiated with the DPP administration. In addition, the list of eight Chinese travel agencies monopolizing the market for visiting Taiwan had nothing to do with the DPP.
We can only thank the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party for this “development.”
Other relaxations also vary in principle with those promoted by the DPP government. The biggest difference is that the DPP never agreed to abandon the title “president.” Ma, however, has made a decision that may make dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and his son, president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), turn in their graves. Nor did the DPP administration ever recognize the so-called “1992 consensus.”
For its part, the KMT government does not even have the courage to mention “one China, with each side having its own interpretation.”
To facilitate direct flights, some local KMT government officials have disregarded national and personal dignity and openly rebuked Taiwan during their visits to China. When the KMT chairman and other senior party officials went to China, they were too afraid to uphold Taiwan’s sovereignty. On the other hand, DPP member and Yunlin County Commissioner Su Chih-fen (蘇治芬) said at the opening of Yunlin’s liaison office in Beijing that Taiwan and China were two separate countries. Based on this, it should not be too difficult to determine who cares more about Taiwan’s dignity.
Although the DPP administration also advocated relaxing restrictions on Taiwanese investment in China, Ma has gone overboard and removed the 40 percent cap on investment. He has also failed to explain the logic behind allowing Taiwanese businesses to set up factories using 12-inch wafer technology in China.
The DPP government refused to allow the Olympic torch onto Taiwanese soil on the grounds that Beijing insists on changing Taiwan’s Olympic title from “Chinese Taipei” to “Taipei, China” and because Beijing is constantly attacking Taiwan’s sovereignty. Before his election, Ma said he would consider boycotting the Olympics over China’s treatment of Tibet. However, two months later, his government was unable to provide a strong response to Beijing changing Taiwan’s name from “Chinese Taipei” to “Taipei, China,” with only the MAC vice chairperson speaking out.
Why did Ma step up when it came to allowing Chinese officials to address him as “Mr,” only to take a backseat when it comes to safeguarding Taiwan’s sovereignty?
While the DPP government strongly opposed recognizing academic qualifications from China, Ma has been heavily in favor. He also wants to allow Chinese students to study in Taiwan. No clear policies to deal with those moves have been proposed, leaving the government agencies that would have to deal with the ramifications scratching their head.
Caution will be in order when Chinese investors are allowed onto the Taiwanese stock market. The TAIEX has plummeted in recent months and Ma’s attempts at reviving it have been in vain. It was only when the stock exchange announced it would look into insider trading that the market finally stopped falling.
Political analyst Wang Kung-yi (王崑義) wrote on his blog: “Last week, I went to Hangzhou to take part in a large symposium organized by the Taiwan Affairs Office. Some people at the meeting who work for Taiwan-related departments told me that certain members of the KMT have told them the KMT will push Taiwan’s stock market down to 5,500 points so that Ma will be forced to reshuffle his Cabinet and get the members they want in office.”
Absent new policies, interest groups could very well control Taiwan’s stock market and countless Taiwanese could be bankrupted if the stock market is buffeted by Chinese and KMT insider trading.
It is high time Taiwanese realized the severity of the crisis we are facing.
Paul Lin is a political commentator based in Taiwan.
TRANSLATED BY DREW CAMERON
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
If you had a vision of the future where China did not dominate the global car industry, you can kiss those dreams goodbye. That is because US President Donald Trump’s promised 25 percent tariff on auto imports takes an ax to the only bits of the emerging electric vehicle (EV) supply chain that are not already dominated by Beijing. The biggest losers when the levies take effect this week would be Japan and South Korea. They account for one-third of the cars imported into the US, and as much as two-thirds of those imported from outside North America. (Mexico and Canada, while
The military is conducting its annual Han Kuang exercises in phases. The minister of national defense recently said that this year’s scenarios would simulate defending the nation against possible actions the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) might take in an invasion of Taiwan, making the threat of a speculated Chinese invasion in 2027 a heated agenda item again. That year, also referred to as the “Davidson window,” is named after then-US Indo-Pacific Command Admiral Philip Davidson, who in 2021 warned that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the PLA to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. Xi in 2017
RSS