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Cross-strait ties
moving too fast: German statesman
By Huang Wei-chu / Staff Reporter
Taiwan should adopt “a slower pace” in cross-strait developments to avoid a
potential misstep, focusing instead on valuing its own national advancement,
former German federal minister for special affairs Egon Bahr warned last year,
sources said.
According to sources, while meeting with several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)
officials, including Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), during his visit to
Taiwan last year, Bahr said cross-strait relations involved critical issues of
regional balance and security.
Taipei should ratchet down the speed of cross-strait developments to avoid any
mistakes and place greater importance on its own national development, Bahr
reportedly said.
Bahr, a mainstay in German politics from the 1960s until 1990, played an
instrumental role in the normalization of relations between East and West
Germany ahead of their eventual reunification.
Bahr is credited with influencing Ostpolitik, which was adopted by former West
German chancellor Willy Brandt, by proposing a new policy of Wandel durch
Annaherung (“change through rapprochement”). The implementation of the new
policy sought to put an end to the entrenched East-West divide through
reconciliation and stronger collaboration.
According to the sources, Bahr said he signed the Basic Treaty with East Germany
and reached a consensus with the communist state on the principle that the
reunification of Germany lay within the historical destiny of both sides and
that the two Germanies were not foreign states to each other.
However, Bahr said such an approach could only have worked in the conflict
between East and West Germany and it was not applicable to cross-strait
relations, the sources added.
Commenting on Bahr’s reported statements, Democratic Progressive Party
Legislator Su Chen-ching (蘇震清) said that for Bahr, who played a key role in the
reunification of two divided nations, to tell Taiwan to slow down the pace on
cross-strait developments highlighted the critical nature of what should be a
core issue for the nation.
Su said President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had implemented several “pro-China”
policies since he took office in 2008 and triggered widespread public criticism.
He added that the rapid pace of Ma’s turn toward China also “raised great
concerns for many.”
“Taiwanese should awaken to China’s pro-reunification stance,” Su said. “The
nation must put more emphasis on its own advancement as opposed to constantly
looking toward China.”
Senior KMT officials also commented, saying that both Beijing and Taipei had
emphasized their mutual recognition to put aside disputes, to target peaceful
development, to respect history and to face reality.
They added that the present approach was to facilitate mutual development in an
amiable manner.
Translated by Stacy Hsu, Staff Writer
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