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¡¥Areas¡¦ idea may have
come from Ma: think tank
RED HERRING The Taiwan Thinktank said that the
¡§one country, two areas¡¨ comment may have been devised to draw attention away
from the US beef issue
By Chen Hui-ping / Staff reporter
The ¡§one country, two areas¡¨ idea touted by former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)
chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (§d§B¶¯) may have been a political move that came directly
from President Ma Ying-jeou (°¨^¤E), rather than wider government circles, aimed
at expressing gratitude for alleged help from China during the Jan. 14
elections, the Taiwan Thinktank said yesterday.
According to an analysis written by one of the think tank¡¦s directors, Lai I-chung
(¿à©É©¾), Mainland Affairs Council Minister Lai Shin-yuan (¿à©¯´D) did not have prior
knowledge of the comment made by Wu during his meeting with Chinese President Hu
Jintao (JÀAÀÜ) on March 22. Furthermore, National Security Bureau (NSB) director
Tsai Der-sheng (½²±o³Ó) did not approve of the comment, indicating that it may not
have been a part of the government¡¦s plans, the paper said.
Instead, the analysis said it may have been a political move directly from Ma to
repay Beijing for its alleged ¡§favor¡¨ of helping the KMT and Ma win re-election
in the Jan. 14 elections, adding that the timing of the proposal also drew
attention from the controversial US beef issue.
The ¡§one country, two areas¡¨ concept is closer to the ¡§one China¡¨ framework than
the ¡§one China with different interpretations,¡¨ and the fact that Taiwan brought
it up on its own initiative means that the country might lose all its leverage
in future political negotiations and would be forced to go down the path of
¡§ultimate unification,¡¨ the think tank said.
The suggestion that the government ¡§actively wants negotiations¡¨ differs hugely
from the expectations of most of the public and the KMT is obliged to explain
itself to Taiwanese, it said.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) and
other political parties should also bring up the issue and debate it with the
KMT, it said.
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff writer
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