The administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is working overtime to sell the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) it concluded with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to the US. Over the past few weeks, several think tanks and academic institutions, such as George Washington University, have hosted seminars on the topic, singing the praises of the ECFA and highlighting its benefits.
On Wednesday, Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) made an appearance at the American Enterprise Institute. She not only painted a rosy picture of the ECFA, but also claimed that the Ma administration has transformed a tense and often confrontational and provocative situation into one of peace and stability. If only it were that easy.
While it may be true that the PRC has been less threatening to Taiwan during the past couple of years, this is perhaps because the leaders in Beijing feel that the Ma administration is leading Taiwan in their direction. This position negates the key point that China has not reduced its missiles aimed at Taiwan and has continued its military buildup. So who is kidding whom?
Lai also seemed to believe that the ECFA would reduce Taiwan’s isolation in the international community and that Taiwan would be able to establish extensive free-trade agreements with other countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
“This is a decision for Taiwan to make, because we are a WTO member,” she said.
However, when news of a possible trade agreement with Singapore surfaced a day later, China insisted that this could only be done with its blessing, under the “one China” principle.
Another interesting statement made by Lai was that “the Republic of China is a sovereign and independent country. This is an established fact, which mainland China cannot deny.”
The problem is that under the Ma government’s definition of the “Republic of China,” China (or the “mainland”) is part of the ROC. Over the past few decades, confusion has been caused by the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) claim to govern all of China. If the Ma government really wanted to resolve the decades-old problem, it would urge China to accept Taiwan as a friendly neighbor and end its anachronistic claims to sovereignty over Taiwan, instead of blurring the sovereignty conflict by claiming it doesn’t exist.
Lai also bravely urged China to end its military deployment and renounce the use of force in trying to resolve differences. However, developments elsewhere show that China is all too eager to resort to force if things don’t go its way: The repression in Tibet and East Turkestan are highly illustrative of the frame of mind of the leaders in Beijing. Their military and political coercion of Taiwan, while urging quick agreements that integrate the cross-strait economies, suggests that they have an end game that conflicts with Taiwan’s democratic way of life.
During the past couple of months, we have observed fresh examples of the lack of willingness on Beijing’s part to be a responsible stakeholder. On the Korean Peninsula it has done very little to rein in North Korea, to the point where that country is now threatening a “physical response” to joint military exercises by the US and South Korea. In the South China Sea, it has shown such belligerence and aggressiveness that at last month’s ASEAN Regional Forum meeting in Hanoi, 11 Asian countries and the US expressed deep concern.
So, are these developments grounds for the rosy optimism displayed by Lai in Washington? It would be good if Lai would wake up and come back to the real world.
Gerrit van der Wees is editor of Taiwan Communique, a publication based in Washington.
Two weeks ago, Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) raised hackles in Taiwan by posting to her 2.6 million Instagram followers that she was visiting “Taipei, China.” Yeoh’s post continues a long-standing trend of Chinese propaganda that spreads disinformation about Taiwan’s political status and geography, aimed at deceiving the world into supporting its illegitimate claims to Taiwan, which is not and has never been part of China. Taiwan must respond to this blatant act of cognitive warfare. Failure to respond merely cedes ground to China to continue its efforts to conquer Taiwan in the global consciousness to justify an invasion. Taiwan’s government
This month’s news that Taiwan ranks as Asia’s happiest place according to this year’s World Happiness Report deserves both celebration and reflection. Moving up from 31st to 27th globally and surpassing Singapore as Asia’s happiness leader is gratifying, but the true significance lies deeper than these statistics. As a society at the crossroads of Eastern tradition and Western influence, Taiwan embodies a distinctive approach to happiness worth examining more closely. The report highlights Taiwan’s exceptional habit of sharing meals — 10.1 shared meals out of 14 weekly opportunities, ranking eighth globally. This practice is not merely about food, but represents something more
In an article published on this page on Tuesday, Kaohsiung-based journalist Julien Oeuillet wrote that “legions of people worldwide would care if a disaster occurred in South Korea or Japan, but the same people would not bat an eyelid if Taiwan disappeared.” That is quite a statement. We are constantly reading about the importance of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), hailed in Taiwan as the nation’s “silicon shield” protecting it from hostile foreign forces such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and so crucial to the global supply chain for semiconductors that its loss would cost the global economy US$1
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
RSS