I have a question. If “one China” refers to the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan, as President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) says it does, why did the Philippines extradite ROC citizens, together with other “Chinese,” to the People’s Republic of China (PRC)? How fatuous is this government to have reached a stage that it no longer dares even insist that Taiwanese and Chinese have different nationalities?
Ma is happy to bang on about how harmless the idea of “one China” is, but every day the folly of this position becomes more apparent. Beijing has its talons locked around Ma’s government, making it accept a consensus on Beijing’s “one China.” Beijing is now trying to transform principle into reality.
This international fraud case is a perfect example of the serious consequences of falling into the trap of the “one China” -principle. Taiwan forgoes its national identity and status as an independent country and, because the government has conceded that Taiwan belongs to China, the Philippines handed the suspects over to the Chinese government. The Philippines did this to allow China to deal with the matter, respecting a consensus arrived at by both parties.
Taiwan has been wronged by China and this loss of face is now being reflected in its dealings with the Philippines. Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) shies away from distinguishing between the people of Taiwan and the people of China, between citizens of the ROC and citizens of the PRC. He talks instead of people living in Taiwan and those living in China. If he can’t articulate this distinction, how can he expect other governments to understand?
This case involves judicial jurisdiction of criminals committing crimes overseas, but Ma’s government refrains from broaching the issue of nationality. So, the Philippines dutifully extradited those “Taiwanese” to China. This has again forced Taiwan’s hand, as it now has to ask China for access to the suspects.
This it can do under the terms of a previous mutual assistance agreement based, again, on the “one China” principle. Yes, the agreement benefits Taiwan because it means China might hand over the Taiwanese suspects, but it also represents a diplomatic victory for Beijing in the push to annex Taiwan, being yet another clarification of the position that Taiwan is part of China.
At the Tokyo International Film Festival last year, China wanted the Taiwanese contingent to arrive behind China’s, and recently Chinese tycoon Chen Guangbiao (陳光標) visited Taiwan to give cash handouts to the poor, amid much fanfare. No officials asked where this money came from or what it was for. This is all about identifying Taiwan as part of China, according to the “one China” principle.
Chen’s donations exposed poverty in Taiwan. Regardless, Ma still gave money during the approach to Lunar New Year. If he can’t help lift the poor from poverty as head of the government, what good is splashing cash around? It’s all hypocrisy and hidden agendas. This government really is something else.
James Wang is a media commentator.
TRANSLATED BY PAUL COOPER
US aerospace company Boeing Co has in recent years been involved in numerous safety incidents, including crashes of its 737 Max airliners, which have caused widespread concern about the company’s safety record. It has recently come to light that titanium jet engine parts used by Boeing and its European competitor Airbus SE were sold with falsified documentation. The source of the titanium used in these parts has been traced back to an unknown Chinese company. It is clear that China is trying to sneak questionable titanium materials into the supply chain and use any ensuing problems as an opportunity to
It’s not every month that the US Department of State sends two deputy assistant secretary-level officials to Taiwan, together. Its rarer still that such senior State Department policy officers, once on the ground in Taipei, make a point of huddling with fellow diplomats from “like-minded” NATO, ANZUS and Japanese governments to coordinate their multilateral Taiwan policies. The State Department issued a press release on June 22 admitting that the two American “representatives” had “hosted consultations in Taipei” with their counterparts from the “Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.” The consultations were blandly dubbed the “US-Taiwan Working Group on International Organizations.” The State
The Chinese Supreme People’s Court and other government agencies released new legal guidelines criminalizing “Taiwan independence diehard separatists.” While mostly symbolic — the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has never had jurisdiction over Taiwan — Tamkang University Graduate Institute of China Studies associate professor Chang Wu-ueh (張五岳), an expert on cross-strait relations, said: “They aim to explain domestically how they are countering ‘Taiwan independence,’ they aim to declare internationally their claimed jurisdiction over Taiwan and they aim to deter Taiwanese.” Analysts do not know for sure why Beijing is propagating these guidelines now. Under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), deciphering the
Delegation-level visits between the two countries have become an integral part of transformed relations between India and the US. Therefore, the visit by a bipartisan group of seven US lawmakers, led by US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul to India from June 16 to Thursday last week would have largely gone unnoticed in India and abroad. However, the US delegation’s four-day visit to India assumed huge importance this time, because of the meeting between the US lawmakers and the Dalai Lama. This in turn brings us to the focal question: How and to what extent