Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) tendered his resignation to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) a few days ago.
Although Ma persuaded him to stay on for the short term, Chiang has been weary of his duties for a long time and seems determined to leave office. It is clear that the issue over the SEF chairmanship will soon be settled.
Chiang is a controversial character whose role in cross-strait negotiations has been strongly questioned by the public.
His resignation from the post would be good for himself and the nation.
However, the root cause of the Ma administration’s poor performance lies in its China-leaning policies and strategies.
If Ma persists in his pro-China approach, changing the chairman of the SEF will not turn this grievous situation around.
The public should not only see Chiang’s resignation as the result of a power struggle within the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), but also question whether Chiang’s role as SEF chairman is suitable because of his economic and political ideologies.
Chiang served in a number of key positions dealing with the economy and trade during the old KMT regime. After the KMT lost power, he became an advocate of the “one China” and “greater China economic circle” concepts.
In addition, he sees cross-strait economic and trade cooperation as the only way out for Taiwan. While the public and experts harshly criticize the Ma administration for relying heavily on China, Chiang still maintains his position that it is not a bad thing for Taiwan’s economy to depend on China.
It is clear what is up his sleeve.
Chiang has also failed to avoid conflicts of interest in his dealings with China.
When he assumed chairmanship of the SEF, he did not immediately resign from his other position as chairman of the Sinocon Industrial Standards Foundation, which has a founding mission of creating mutual standards for cross-strait technological industries.
It was obvious that this could financially benefit Chiang, but he kept the post despite a conflict of interest. No matter how hard he tried to clarify his innocence afterward, it was hard to prevent rumors from spreading.
Chiang has close relations with China-based Taiwanese businesspeople and media reports have shown that his son might have gained a special permit from the Chinese government to buy steel.
The constant speculation indicates that Chiang has not been able to explain away his conflict of interest.
Based on this, it is not proper for him to continue to serve as SEF chairman. Regardless of whether he was under political stress or if it was of his own free will, his offer to resign was indeed a proper thing to do.
The necessity and appropriateness of the SEF’s existence should also be reviewed. Taiwan is a sovereign, independent nation and if it is to enter negotiation with China, it should be done by government officials. There is no need for the SEF to do these things on behalf of Taiwan’s government institutions.
The SEF is thus an anachronism and a product of authoritarian rule and a greater China ideology. Taiwan has left the era of foreign rule behind and transformed itself into a democracy.
If negotiations are carried out by semi-official and semi-public organizations with ambiguous status, it will muddle diplomatic talks conducted between the two normal nations.
More importantly, negotiations between Taiwan and China should be based on Taiwan’s interests. The SEF is not merely a non-governmental organization; members of its board — including its secretary-general, Kao Koong-lian (高孔廉) — are also business leaders with complex interest entanglements in China.
There are many doubts about how they will be able to avoid conflicts of interest and whether this group is capable of ensuring the rights and interests of the 23 million people of Taiwan.
In particular need of review is the Ma government’s goal of eventual unification. To achieve eventual unification, the Ma administration has allowed direct flights between Taiwan and China and opened Taiwan up to Chinese tourists.
The economic cooperation and framework agreement the government is planning to sign with China will allow Chinese investment in Taiwan. The government is also going to start recognizing Chinese academic credentials.
Once Chinese investment hits Taiwan’s stock and housing markets and once those Chinese degree holders enter Taiwan’s job market, the economy will be completely controlled by China and once again develop into a bubble economy.
The younger generation will face great difficulties in gaining employment and Taiwanese and their descendants will face tough times in a place controlled by China.
There will be no way out of this situation once it happens. Not a single one of the agreements that have been reached at the negotiation table have been reviewed by the legislature or subjected to a referendum.
The government’s China-leaning policies have been totally arbitrary in nature and the public has not been consulted.
There is only one way to turn things around and stop the crisis of survival Taiwan is facing — the government must stop its reckless policies now because time is running out fast.
The government must give up the idea of eventual unification, abolish the SEF and the Mainland Affairs Council and start to handle relations with China through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This is the only right thing to do and the only way to stop Taiwan from being swallowed up by China.
TRANSLATED BY TED YANG AND DREW CAMERON
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