Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) was a big hit with the audience yesterday during his speech at Xiamen University, but some observers said his visit to China was dotted with hints at “unification.”
Hu, on board the landmark July 4 direct cross-strait charter from Chingchuankang Airport in Taichung, arrived in Xiamen on Friday with Taichung County Commissioner Huang Chung-sheng (黃仲生), Changhua County Commissioner Cho Po-yuan (卓伯源) and Nantou County Deputy Commissioner Chen Tze-ching (陳志清) for a four-day visit. They were Taiwan’s first local government chiefs to travel to China directly from Taichung.
While speaking at Xiamen University’s auditorium yesterday, a member of the audience, who claimed to have visited Taichung, challenged Hu by saying that “Xiamen is better than Taichung.”
Hu replied in his own style of humor, beginning by saying: “When two people want to be friends, they must first see the good qualities in each other.”
He went on to say that in the past, he had suggested to Chinese policymakers that if there was to be any goodwill across the Taiwan Strait, Beijing must dismantle the missiles pointed at Taiwan. Hu told the audience that the person he was talking to at the time replied by arguing that the “missiles are for the Taiwanese independence supporters.”
“I was not aware that missiles have eyes capable of distinguishing who is and is not a Taiwanese independence supporter,” Hu told the audience, drawing loud laughter from the crowd and assuaging the tension in the room.
As the delegation led by Hu, Cho, Huang and Chen continued their visit in Xiamen yesterday, participants noted that while they could feel friendliness and respect from the people they met, they also sensed “united front” (統戰) tactics in the air. “United front” refers to tactics and efforts employed by Beijing aimed at extending its influence in Taiwan to aid unification.
One pan-green supporter said that no matter where the delegation went, the Chinese entourage always made “unification” comments to Hu such as “welcome back to the Motherland,” or “the blood that all Chinese people share is thicker than water.”
The pan-green supporter claimed he was able to insert some counter-united front remarks on various occasions by dropping comments like “the best situation is one side one country” or by elaborating on the values of Taiwan’s democracy.
The four local government chiefs’ China visit was made possible after the Executive Yuan approved on Thursday the relaxation of the Regulations Governing Public Servants and Special Status Personnel from the Taiwan Area Entering the Mainland Area (臺灣地區公務員及特定身分人員進入大陸地區�?鴘k), effective that day.
Under the relaxed regulations, local city mayors and county magistrates are now permitted to engage in bilateral exchanges at municipal or county levels, and the application procedure to gain Mainland Affairs Council approval will be shortened from three weeks to one week. Prior to the revisions approved by the Cabinet in its weekly meeting, local chiefs were only allowed to attend international events in China.
Additional reporting by CNA
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