Taiwan’s democracy is still valuable, but it is in trouble, Taipei Forum chairman Su Chi (蘇起) told a Washington audience on Tuesday.
He said that “faults and flaws” in domestic politics had resulted in a deadlock where nothing gets done.
Delivering the 18th annual Gaston Sigur Memorial Lecture at George Washington University, Su — a former National Security Council secretary-general under President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said that over the past decade the nation has celebrated the success of its democracy a little too much.
Domestic politics had dragged down the economy and there was a need for reform and to stop “patting ourselves on the back,” he said.
He said that only by correcting mistakes and flaws could Taiwan be a “better beacon” for people inside China who were hoping to achieve democracy.
Taiwan was diplomatically and psychologically lonely with no natural neighborhood allies, Su said.
Its every move was watched closely by the US, China and Japan leaving the nation with very little room for maneuvering or mistakes.
Taiwan has to be more prudent and careful than other countries and could not afford to cause trouble for its neighbors, he said.
Su said that for much of its history, Taiwan was an underdog, with the US, China and Japan deciding “what we were and what we could do.”
However, that changed when Taiwanese entrepreneurs began to innovate, when the nation’s infrastructure was rebuilt and with the introduction of democracy.
At that point Beijing and Washington began to react to Taiwan’s initiatives and Taiwan became a “tail wagging two dogs,” he said.
Taiwan created the mechanisms for a relationship with China and was able to direct that relationship, he said, adding that a new period was opening where one dog (China) “is not going to let the tail wag it anymore.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is becoming more proactive and Taiwan no longer held the initiative in the relationship, Su said.
During his first term in power Xi was being “soft” toward Taiwan, but that could change in the second term, Su said.
He said that polls showed Taiwanese were moving “almost irreversibly” toward adopting a Taiwanese identity and away from China.
“The sentiment for growing closer to China is getting weaker and weaker,” Su said.
At the same time, he said, the balance of power was moving ever faster in favor of unification and against independence.
Whichever party comes to power after the next presidential election — the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) or the Democratic Progressive Party — will have to deal with this “contradiction and tension,” Su said.
In the past six years, Taiwan and China had become more integrated socially and economically, but there was still no “trilateral consensus” between blue, red and green.
This has led to a destabilizing situation where there were too many “fingers on the trigger” and where the rift and power struggle between the KMT and DPP has become worse.
“In Taiwan, the party leaders don’t meet, they don’t talk — they just point fingers at each other,” Su said.
“With a house divided like this, how can we cope with a rising China?” he asked.
If the pan-blue and pan-green camps keep fighting among themselves, the island’s future will not be decided by Taiwanese, he said.
Su said that Taiwan’s first priority should be to promote blue and green reconciliation.
Such a reconciliation, he said, would hopefully bring about a “blue, green and red trilateral dialogue.”
A recent proposal he had made for five principles leading to a greater “one China” framework, Su said, was “merely an invitation to discussion — to get people to think about this issue.”
Su is also known as the author the the term “1992 consensus,” having admitted in 2006, when he was a KMT lawmaker, that he had made up the term in 2000.
Additional reporting by staff writer
‘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 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS