President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) “manifestly failed” to improve relations with the US, Japan and other Asian powers as he moved Taiwan closer to China, the US-Taiwan Business Council said yesterday in an analysis of the Nov. 29 election results.
It said the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) had suffered a “historic defeat” at the hands of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and independent candidates.
“Food safety scandals, stagnant wages, high property prices and an overarching view that Taiwan’s economic fortunes are adrift contributed to the KMT’s defeat,” council president Rupert Hammond-Chambers said.
He said these local issues could also be tied to Ma’s focus on improving relations with China.
“The US-Taiwan Business Council has praised President Ma’s policies that seek to normalize cross-strait commercial relations and improve cultural exchanges,” Hammond-Chambers said.
However, the council also agreed with Ma that this policy approach had to be taken hand-in-hand with improved relations with the US, Japan and other Asian powers, he said.
“President Ma has manifestly failed to accomplish this goal, as rhetorical decelerations of strong relations is not the same as identifiable policy wins,” Hammond-Chambers said.
He said the one-sided nature of Ma’s external relations had left an overriding impression that Taiwan’s trajectory with regard to China had prioritized the powerful business and technocratic elite over the general populace.
“Many in Taiwan, particularly young singles and young families, feel that they have been disenfranchised,” Hammond-Chambers said.
He said that Ma would have to move decisively to correct the trajectory of his party and point it in the right direction if the KMT was to win the next presidential election.
“We should expect much maneuvering between now and the start of the Chinese New Year on Feb. 19, including a new premier, a new Cabinet and a new KMT chairman,” Hammond-Chambers said.
He said Beijing had invested more than six years in Ma’s government, “only to see the effectiveness of that decision challenged in these elections.”
“It is essential to recognize that China loomed large over the 2014 elections and that any decisions China makes in 2015 to represent its interests in Taiwan will be placed under a microscope in the debates leading up to the 2016 presidential election,” he said. “We are likely to see a steady uptick in tensions, punctuated by terse Chinese statements in support of its own equities. We are unlikely to see any new cross-strait initiatives, at least through May 2016 when Taiwan’s next president takes office.”
Hammond-Chambers said the US could do much to improve the likelihood of a “good outcome” in Taiwan.
“The US should consider several steps in 2015 to bolster Taiwan’s democratic process and telegraph clearly to Beijing that the US is not a disinterested party when it comes to cross-strait relations,” he said.
He said Washington should launch bilateral investment agreement negotiations immediately; accept Taiwan’s letter of request for new F-16 C/Ds to ensure that Taiwan has the advanced fighters it needs; send the submarine program notification — which has been sitting at the US Department of State since 2008 — to the US Congress; and send several Cabinet-level officials to Taiwan next year.
“The US needs to act now to head off the prospect of a steep spike in cross-strait tensions,” Hammond-Chambers said.
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
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