Likening the military might of Taiwan and China to a grasshopper and a rooster, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said although Taiwan could be a powerful grasshopper, the best strategy was not to provoke the rooster but to prevent it from taking any reckless action.
Ma made the remarks during a round-table forum with Red Cross Society of the Republic of China head C.V. Chen (陳長文), Global Views Monthly cofounder Charles Kao (高希均) and writers Liu Ke-shiang (劉克襄) and Wang Wen-hua (王文華) at the Presidential Office on Monday.
The closed-door meeting was organized by the Chinese-language United Daily News and access to other media outlets was denied. Details of the meeting were published in the newspaper yesterday.
The paper quoted Ma as citing Chinese philosopher Mencius (孟子), who Ma said wrote that the best way for two countries to get along was for the smaller country to be smart and flexible in dealing with the bigger one, and the bigger country generous and kind and not to browbeat its smaller counterpart.
During the 90-minute talk, Ma praised his cross-strait and foreign policies, saying he was inspired by a US guest who lamented that his country helped the Chinese fight the Japanese in the 20th century, then worked with the Japanese to fight the Chinese and now works with both so they do not have to take sides, the paper said.
“I believe that we on both sides of the Taiwan Strait can do the same and do not have to force our friends to take sides,” the report quoted Ma as saying.
Ma said he did not consult with Beijing about his “diplomatic truce” policy before he announced it, but China accepted it.
The policy benefited both Taiwan and China because they no longer need to waste money on trying to lure away the other’s diplomatic allies, allowing the two sides to coexist peacefully, Ma was quoted as saying.
Citing Sun Tzu’s (孫子) The Art of War, Ma said the supreme art of war was to subdue the enemy without ever raising a weapon.
“If we can make good use of our resources, astuteness and diplomacy, we can protect the country in a peaceful way,” he said. “Why do we even want to resort to the worst plan of starting a war?”
The daily also reported that Ma acknowledged the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) poses risks, but added that he had a remedy for such problems.
Ma said the pact would present three difficulties: market competition risks, economic reliance on China and returning political favors.
To address these problems, it was important to strengthen the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises, upgrade the value of key products, prevent political language and create cross-strait equality and reciprocity, he said, without elaborating.
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