No goodwill
from PRC: MOFA
STANDARD ANSWER: Although the
US, Japan and the EU have yet to provide an official position on Taiwan’s UN
‘bid,’ Washington has given signs of support
By Jenny W. Hsu
STAFF REPORTER
Wednesday, Sep 10, 2008, Page 3
Although Beijing has softened its tone in its opposition to Taiwan’s UN bid this
year, the change still does not represent a “goodwill gesture” on its part, the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
This year, rather than seeking a seat in the global body, Taiwan is only
requesting “meaningful participation” in UN agencies.
Sticking to Beijing’s usual rhetoric, Chinese Ambassador to the UN Wang Guangya
(王光亞) said in a letter to the UN Secretariat Office last month that Taiwan does
not qualify for separate representation because it is part of China.
“This is not a goodwill gesture on Beijing’s part. The standard answer by the
Chinese is not helpful to cross-strait developments,” said Paul Chang (章文樑),
head of the ministry’s Department of International Organizations.
Chang said that in his letter, Wang argued that Taiwan and China should shelve
their differences and seek common interests.
“If that is the case, then the language [in the letter] should reflect such a
position,” Chang said.
To date, the US, the EU and Japan have not taken an official position on
Taiwan’s bid this year, but the ministry said the US approves of the move.
Several of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies, including Paraguay, Panama and the
Dominican Republic, which President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) visited last month, have
decided against supporting Taiwan’s UN bid because of “special circumstances,”
the ministry said.
“We understand and respect those circumstances,” Chang said to dispel fears that
the nation’s relations with diplomatic allies are crumbling.
In related news, Chang said yesterday that Taiwan would be taking a more active
role in APEC, such as hosting the first-ever Workshop on Large-Scale Disaster
Recovery in Taipei from Sept. 22 to Sept. 28, where experts will share
experiences in disaster relief efforts.
More than 80 participants from 11 member-economies, including Australia,
Singapore, China and New Zealand, are expected to attend the meeting.
Chang said that following a two-day indoor symposium, participants would head
for Nantou County, which suffered extensive damage in the 921 Earthquake in
1999, to assess reconstruction efforts.
The meeting will conclude in China, with participants visiting Sichuan Province
to assess post-disaster management following the devastating earthquake in May.
Taipei will host the APEC Photovoltaic Conference next month.
DPP slams
president over ‘Taiwan region’ comment
NOT AN ISSUE: Ma’s latest
reference to Taiwan had the DPP up in arms, with some members saying the KMT was
taking the nation ever closer to unification
By Rich Chang
STAFF REPORTER, WITH CNA
Wednesday, Sep 10, 2008, Page 3
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday accused President Ma Ying-jeou
(馬英九) of denigrating the country by referring to it as the “Republic of China,
Taiwan region” (中華民國台灣地區) on Monday.
While receiving Brian Mishara, president of the International Association for
Suicide Prevention, and recipients of the 2008 International Caring for Life
Awards on Monday, Ma pledged that his administration would endeavor to reduce
the suicide rate, adding that suicide was now the nation’s ninth leading cause
of death.
Ma then said that “over the past 10 years, the number of suicides in the
Republic of China, Taiwan region, had doubled, from 2,172 in 1997 to 4,406 in
2006, before falling to 3,933 last year.”
DPP caucus whip William Lai (賴清德) told reporters yesterday that Ma should
apologize immediately for the remark, as it degraded the nation’s sovereign
status.
Ma had denied the existence of his own country, Lai said.
Chuang Suo-hang (莊碩漢), director of the DPP’s Policy Research Committee, said
that Ma’s policies were leading Taiwan one little step at a time toward
unification with China.
Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said yesterday that Ma should
not have to apologize because his comment was not an issue.
“The Republic of China is an independent sovereignty,” Wang said.
“There is nothing wrong in the president referring to Taiwan as the Republic of
China, Taiwan region, during a non-political occasion,” he said.
“The public should refrain from overinterpreting the president’s remarks,
because they did not have any political meaning,” he said.
In Washington, DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said that Taiwanese were
increasingly wary of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government’s policy on
China.
Tsai made the comments during a dinner banquet with Taiwanese expatriates after
her arrival earlier in the day from New York City, which was the first leg of
her two-week visit to the US.
“All of Taiwanese society has grave concerns about the KMT government’s stance
toward China,” she said, adding that KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) was guilty
of “seriously misjudging” the political situation.
Wu’s claim, shortly after a visit to China earlier this year, that “China does
not intend to fire missiles at Taiwan” was misguided, Tsai said.
“In the face of Taiwan’s dwindling independent status and worsening economic
situation, the DPP’s top priority is to protect national sovereignty, help
improve the economy and take care of the underprivileged,” she said.
In addition to giving a speech at the Heritage Foundation, Tsai will meet US
officials and aides from the Republican and Democratic parties before visiting
Los Angeles on Friday and San Jose, California, on Sunday.
She is scheduled to return to Taipei on Tuesday.
In Ma, the
blinkered lead the blindfolded
By Steve Wang 王思為
Wednesday, Sep 10, 2008, Page 8
Throughout his political career, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has been able to
effortlessly sweep away his enemies and gain quick promotions. After 100 days as
president, however, Ma the media darling unexpectedly fell from grace, and his
arrogance was replaced by embarrassment. There are more reasons for his dramatic
rise and fall than simply public criticism.
As soon as the confident Ma took the helm, he announced a “diplomatic truce”
with Beijing, laying diplomatic relations — which require active long-term
management — to rest. Promoting diplomacy is like moving against the current; if
one doesn’t move forward, one slips back. The cancellation of several proposed
plans to connect Taiwan internationally, such as the pro-Taiwan African
association and the Austronesian Forum, demonstrate how Taiwan’s diplomacy is
being undermined. Ma’s diplomatic truce is clearly becoming another isolationist
policy.
In terms of national security, Taiwan has also adopted a passive attitude. It is
halting development of the Hsiungfeng 2-E missiles designed to counter China’s
missile threat, and is planning to spend tens of billions of NT dollars on a
bridge connecting Kinmen and China’s Xiamen, thus opening the nation wide to
Beijing and abandoning national security.
Ma has also belittled Taiwan’s position in the cross-strait relationship,
replacing former presidents Lee Teng-hui’s (李登輝) “special state-to-state” theory
of cross-strait relations and Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) “one country on each side”
formulas with his “Chinese Taipei” formula. The international response has been
to interpret this as meaning “Taipei, China” and other countries are now viewing
Taiwan as part of China, all but stripping Taiwan of national dignity.
Ma plans to spend NT$114.4 billion (US$3.6 billion) on boosting domestic demand.
But the rashly passed budget is bloated and wasteful and does not improve social
justice and care for disadvantaged groups.
Taiwan’s stock market is bleeding and the real estate market has come to a
standstill. Companies are closing, and empty business premises are for rent
everywhere. The export monitoring indicator even flashed blue in July for the
first time since the SARS outbreak in 2003.
Both international and domestic news is negative. No wonder public confidence in
Ma is plummeting. Still, Ma shamelessly calls on the public to follow him
faithfully, and if they follow him until 2016, they will see his failed “6-3-3”
promise realized.
Perhaps Ma’s plan is to highlight all the bad news as soon as he can, because he
still has three-plus years to climb out of the hole. Adding the forgetfulness of
Taiwanese voters, credibility becomes less important. Even a “living
conscienceless commodity” like Ma can cloud voters’ memory with another round of
campaign propaganda, and preposterous slogans such as “Let’s cast our ballots
carefully this time” and “Even Martians will vote for him as long as he can fix
the economy.” After all, wasn’t that how he covered up his eight years of
mediocrity as Taipei mayor?
Still, public patience is limited. As each myth in the Ma pantheon is exposed as
fake and his godlike status is exposed to the cruel realities of everyday life,
beautiful metaphors or tempting promises will remain empty words unless they are
backed up by concrete action.
In his book, Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership, Nixon to Clinton,
which Ma’s team has held up as a model, David Gergen writes that although these
former US presidents’ statements are inspiring, they had to be implemented
before they were worth anything.
Maybe the members of Ma’s team should reread the book.
Steve Wang is a director of the
European Union Study Association.