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EDITORIAL : Who is Ma
campaigning to?
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has been touting his cross-strait policy at almost
every event on his re-election campaign trail and in every media interview,
crediting it for increasing cross-strait mutual trust and bringing prosperity
and international visibility to Taiwan in various ways.
If only such claims were true.
First off, Ma trumpeted his modus vivendi policy, saying that it resulted in
none of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies being snatched away by China since he took
office in May 2008. The truth is that it is all down to Beijing not wanting Ma
to “lose face” that it has so far discouraged Taiwan’s allies from moving to
Beijing’s side.
Ma has also been saying it was because of his China policy that Taiwan’s economy
was boosted by the visits of more than 3 million Chinese tourists since 2008
when cross-strait tourism was first allowed. That is only a half-truth. What Ma
has failed to acknowledge, of course, is that it was Beijing who gave the green
light to some of its people to travel to Taiwan, restricting such trips at first
to residents of major east coast areas.
It is a welcome sight to see Beijing making goodwill gestures. However, such
moves are of concern if their purpose is to disguise Beijing’s ambition to
entice Taiwan into its fold, with the Ma government reaping the harvest of
so-called cross-strait achievements at the expense of Taiwan’s sovereignty.
Ma has also cited Taiwan’s observership in the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an
achievement, saying Taiwan’s attendance has amounted to substantive
participation in international organizations without China’s involvement.
However, the truth is that Taiwan’s international participation as a sovereign
state has been reduced, with a leaked internal memo from the WHO clearly showing
that Taiwan’s observership was conditional on it being regarded as a province of
China, pursuant to an arrangement with Beijing. So much for Ma’s talk of
upholding Taiwan’s national dignity and interests. The truth is that his
administration has created the impression among the international community that
Taiwan is part of China.
What Ma touts as his achievements are really more to Beijing’s credit than his.
The Ma administration has served as little more than Beijing’s proxy, a sop to
the hearts and minds of Taiwanese.
Which brings us to the so-called “1992 consensus,” which Ma and the Chinese
Nationalist Party (KMT) say is the only basis for improvement in cross-strait
relations, warning that ties would suffer a setback if the consensus were
rejected.
Indeed, no more saber-rattling remarks have been needed from China this election
season as Ma and his party have seemingly taken upon themselves to work on
Beijing’s behalf, intimidating Taiwanese with this talk of the consequences of
rejecting the consensus.
While Ma touts the nonsensical consensus as the backbone of solid cross-strait
relations and attacks Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate
Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) proposed “Taiwan consensus” as hollow and too reliant on
democratic procedures, the half-truth he fails to acknowledge is that the reason
he embraces the “1992 consensus” is that Beijing understands it as its “one
China” principle.
What is wrong with Tsai’s “Taiwan consensus,” which calls for different opinions
to be presented and evaluated through a democratic mechanism? Surely Ma is not
trying to convince us that he is against democratic methods?
As Taiwanese voters consider their choices ahead of Saturday’s elections, it is
worth asking whether they want a national leader who works to encompass
divergent views in forming a national consensus or one who makes light of the
public’s voice and appears to look to Beijing for approval.
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