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EDITORIAL: Inching
toward breaking point
As the day approaches when the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (°¨^¤E)
enters its second term, it is becoming increasingly evident that Ma has been
very lucky that Taiwanese have been both very patient and apathetic about his
dangerous flirting with Beijing.
This might be about to change, as the disconnect between public expectations on
relations with China and the policy direction in which the Ma administration
appears to be engaging grows wider.
How out of sync Ma¡¦s China policy is with public opinion became starker last
week when, ostensibly with the president¡¦s blessing, former Chinese Nationalist
Party (KMT) chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (§d§B¶¯) ¡X an unelected non-official, we must
not forget ¡X on a visit to Beijing delivered to Chinese President Hu Jintao
(JÀAÀÜ) what can only be described as a blueprint for the future of cross-strait
relations. That plan reflects far better Beijing¡¦s position on Taiwan and on
¡§one China¡¨ than it does the views of the public that voted for Ma and the KMT
on Jan. 14.
Facing a strong reaction to the proposal, the KMT shot back by saying the
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was distorting the language contained in the
Constitution to score political points.
While the Presidential Office accused the DPP of manipulating the issue of ¡§one
country, two areas¡¨ in a poll, it failed to address another poll ¡X this one by
TVBS, hardly a bastion of pro-independence or pan-green sentiment ¡X which showed
growing dissatisfaction with Ma¡¦s handling of cross-strait affairs. Unless TVBS
is running for office in 2016, the Ma government has a far more serious problem
on its hands than the manipulation of polls by mischievous DPP officials.
The numbers provided in the TVBS poll should make any responsible government
official sit up at night trying to figure out what is wrong with cross-strait
policy. The poll shows that the disapproval rate on Ma¡¦s cross-strait policy now
stands at 55 percent, against 27 percent who approve, while the percentage of
Taiwanese who lack confidence that the Ma administration would defend Taiwan¡¦s
interests in cross-strait economic agreements rose to 57 percent, versus 34
percent who are confident.
On whether Ma¡¦s cross-strait policies are seen as increasingly tilting toward
China, 59 percent said ¡§yes,¡¨ versus 31 percent who said ¡§no.¡¨ Meanwhile, the
figures for identification as Taiwanese and support for independence continued
their upward trend against those who identify themselves as Chinese or who
support unification.
Given the pressure that the Ma administration is expected to receive from
Beijing in the coming months, disapproval of Ma¡¦s cross-strait policies will
very likely continue to grow. However, what remains to be seen is whether this
dissatisfaction will translate into opposition to those policies that is
substantial enough to force Ma to correct his course.
In the past four years, even as Taiwan under Ma¡¦s guidance has drifted toward
China, public opposition has been meek and unimaginative at best, which has
allowed the Ma administration to ignore the sporadic public protests and
continue with its plans unchanged.
As the threat becomes more distinct and gets closer to home, there will be a
point where abstract fears become reality. Let us hope for Taiwan¡¦s sake that
this moment of reckoning occurs early enough to avoid a point of no return.
Acknowledging the threat alone will be insufficient: If the Ma government is to
be accountable to the public, and if Beijing is to realize that Taiwanese will
not brook the dismemberment of their freedoms, Taiwanese of all stripes,
regardless of their political affiliation, will have to unite and truly make
their voices heard and their anger felt.
If they fail to do so, Taiwan as we know it today will not go out with a bang,
but a whimper.
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