The Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) administration is proceeding carelessly in its cross-strait policies, is unreceptive to criticism and appears to be focusing on its relations with Beijing at the expense of the nation’s ties with long-standing allies, former representative to Washington Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said in an interview with the Taipei Times this week.
In its efforts to develop ties with China, Wu said, the Ma administration seemed to have decided on the political end-state before conducting the proper security/strategic assessments to determine the wisest course of action.
“On the higher national security level, there has been no grand assessment on Taiwan’s standing with China and all other important countries, and no report on Taiwan’s priority list with other countries, including China,” said Wu, who is now a research fellow at National Chengchi University’s Institute of International Relations.
Since Ma came into office, old allies like the US, the EU and Japan have been ignored, he said, adding that the only country that seemed to matter to Ma was China.
He also said some prominent US academics had begun to worry that China has gained more influence and leverage over Taiwan than the US.
One sign of this development was the fact that the US was kept in the dark on cross-strait political issues such as WHO negotiations that resulted in Taiwan being allowed to participate as an observer at the World Health Assembly, the WHO’s decision-making body, earlier this year.
Wu said a US official had told him that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government was not willing to provide any information to the US about negotiations between Taipei and Beijing on the matter.
“American officials and members of the policy community in [Washington] are very eager to know what is being talked about on political issues such as peace agreement and military confidence-building measures because these issues may fundamentally change the American security environment in East Asia,” Wu said.
“But apparently the American side seems to be getting very little information from the KMT government,” he said.
During his election campaign and soon after entering office, Ma repeatedly said that his government would endeavor to improve relations with Washington and undo the “damage” caused to bilateral ties during former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) eight years in office.
Another level where the Ma administration has failed to conduct risk assessments is in cross-strait economic liberalization, Wu said.
“No impact assessment at all [was made] before Ma made the decision on an ECFA [economic cooperation framework agreement] and shifting TFT-LCD [thin-film-transitory liquid crystal display] and 12-inch wafer fab production to China,” Wu said.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs announced earlier this year that it would review the technological cap set on TFT-LCD production in China by Taiwanese manufacturers.
“TFT-LCD and [computer chip] fab production have been considered as two key strategic industries for the Taiwanese economy. Even some KMT legislators who favor better relations with China said to me that they do not agree with the decision-making process,” he said.
Under the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration, while encouraging trade liberalization with China, Taiwan imposed limits on the types of key technologies that could migrate to China, mostly to ensure that Taiwan retained its technological edge.
Since Ma took office, however, caution has been thrown to the wind, with no assessment of the impact that technology transfer could have on Taiwanese competitiveness in crucial sectors of its economy, said Wu, who has also served as Mainland Affairs Council chairman under the DPP government.
Aside from Ma’s disregard for criticism from both the DPP and some members of the KMT, Wu said Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng’s (王金平) public attitude toward Ma “seemed to have changed after Ma ran for the party chairmanship.”
“I figured that he must have seen the situation that Ma is trying to control the party and the LY [Legislative Yuan] party caucus and there is no way for him to publicly dispute with the administration now,” Wu said.
There were clear indications that the Ma administration was also proactively seeking to silence former officials from the Chen administration, including himself, Wu said.
Wu said earlier this year he was invited by Project 2049, a US-based think tank, to participate in a conference coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act on Capitol Hill.
He was quietly informed, however, that Taiwan’s representative in Washington repeatedly requested that the organizer of the conference have Wu “disinvited.”
Wu also said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which funded some academic projects, had requested the organizers to drop him from participating in another conference in Washington and other academic activities.
“A book project by a government-funded think tank was about to be completed and [I] was a contributor,” Wu said. “But the book project was ordered dropped.”
Faced with such censorship, Wu said he and other former DPP officials felt they had a hard time getting invited to conferences and events, lest their presence cause trouble in relations with the KMT and China.
“Lack of resources, corruption charges and an unfriendly media environment are preventing the DPP from being more effective in its efforts” to counter Ma’s cross-strait policies, Wu said.
Asked how the DPP could turn things around, Wu said: “Some people argue that the DPP should try to come up with its own platform on cross-strait policy or other policies. My view is that it is not time yet — any platform by the DPP now will probably look out of touch because of the fast pace of change. A better timing will be when the [DPP’s] presidential candidate [for the election in 2012] is selected and a platform, or grand policy proposal, is offered as a contrast to the KMT’s failures or its policies.”
“In short, we are counting on the final moment of a duet with the KMT and Ma when 2012 approaches,” Wu said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and