National defense and diplomacy are two major issues under the president’s authority, according to the Republic of China Constitution, but recent moves by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) show that he considers them as stages for his personal show.
Yesterday, Ma, accompanied by a media delegation, visited Penjia Islet (彭佳嶼) — about 30 nautical miles (55.5km) north of Keelung and 76 nautical miles west of the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) in the East China Sea, and is the de facto northernmost territory of Taiwan — to attend a ceremony to unveil a landmark claiming the islet as Taiwanese territory and to reiterate his “East China Sea peace initiative” as Taiwan, Japan and China dispute over the sovereignty of the Diaoyutais.
However, the move has no real effect except for spending more taxpayers’ money to show that Ma is no lame-duck president, as he once declared after president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) won a landslide victory in the Jan. 16 presidential election.
In January, Ma traveled to Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島) in the South China Sea. Several nations in the region claim sovereignty over it.
The move was seen as provocative by the international community, as well as the opposition.
Last month, as the Philippines filed for international arbitration over China’s claims of sovereignty over the South China Sea, saying that Itu Aba could not be a basis for a sovereignty claim because it is not an island, Ma invited a foreign press delegation to visit the island to prove that it really is an island.
The target of the Philippines’ request for arbitration is China, not Taiwan, and it might be odd for Ma to be so eager to prove that the Philippines’ claim is false while China’s is correct, especially after China said that it is the shared responsibility of “Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait” to defend China’s sovereignty over the South China Sea.
Therefore, Ma’s move is very dangerous, as it might be seen as a response to China’s call, and therefore a declaration to the world that Taiwan and China are part of the same nation.
Moreover, a decision by the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee last week to abolish a short-lived clause in the Enforcement Rules of the Passport Act (護照條例施行細則) that bans any modifications to Taiwanese passports is another slap in Ma’s face, as his administration was so eager to stop a campaign to put “Republic of Taiwan” stickers on passport covers.
While the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not think it was a problem for people to place stickers on their passport covers, it suddenly became a serious issue when pro-independence activists launched a campaign to place “Republic of Taiwan” stickers on passport covers.
Although people who placed the stickers on their passport covers risk being denied entry when entering foreign nations, it was ironic that the majority of problems at border controls happened in Taiwan and only a few cases occurred abroad.
The clause was proposed in November last year and adopted by the legislature in January.
Although the ministry previously said that the move was serious and dangerous, it suddenly softened its stance at a legislative committee meeting on Wednesday, with officials saying that the clause was only added as a “friendly reminder.”
Whether it is a friendly reminder or not, the ministry’s change of attitude shows that the proposal and passage of the clause were more political than practical, and amounted to another reckless move by the Ma administration.
Fortunately, there are just 40 days left before Ma’s term ends and hopefully he can focus more on a smooth transfer of government in the remaining days instead of making more reckless moves.
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