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Ma’s empty promises
on defending sovereignty
By Chen Rong-jye 陳榮傑
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has on several occasions pledged to safeguard the
sovereignty of the Republic of China (ROC), the security of Taiwan and public
dignity.
However, when Chinese envoy Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) visited Taiwan recently, Taiwanese
were banned from expressing national pride using the national flag, while the
Chinese flag was frequently seen fluttering in the air. How can that be
acceptable? The national flag is the symbol of a nation’s sovereignty. Other
countries can refuse to recognize it, but how can we ourselves abandon it? After
all, displaying the national flag to express one’s opinion is an important
component of the freedom of expression.
Furthermore, when Taiwanese boats carrying the Chinese flag traveled to the
Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) last month, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) even
provided an escort of five coast guard vessels to protect them, giving people
the impression that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP) are fighting Japan together again.
Before activists from Hong Kong, Macau and Mainland China landed on the
Diaoyutais recently, a CGA vessel provided them with supplies, defending the
action by saying it was an emergency aid situation. After the Chinese and ROC
flags had been planted on one of the islands, the CGA told Japanese authorities
that Hong Kong activists had brought the ROC flag and that the government was
unaware of the action and was not involved in the matter. They could just as
well admit their complicity.
On the other hand, Taiwan’s deputy minister of foreign affairs told the public
that having the ROC flag on the Diaoyutais — an ROC territory that is
illegitimately occupied by the Japanese — is consistent with Taiwan’s
sovereignty claims. Does this government have any sense of dignity?
Remember former KMT chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄), who visited Beijing on March
22 and talked about Taiwan and China being two areas of the same country — and
Ma said that the “one country” mentioned was the ROC? The two were doing
different dances to the same tune, one of them for domestic consumption,
deceiving the public, the other for international consumption, pleasing others.
Recently, Ma unilaterally proposed an East China Sea peace initiative, which is
just another empty slogan. Does he have the prestige and skills for such an
endeavor?
Consider, for example, the many negotiations and concessions that were involved
when King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, crown prince at the time, proposed the Arab
Peace Initiative at the Beirut summit of the Arab League in 2002 as a sign that
the Arab world was willing to coexist peacefully with Israel in exchange for
Israel’s withdrawal from the occupied territories.
Does Taiwan have the leverage to direct negotiations for an East China Sea peace
initiative? Were there any prior consultations? Were Ma’s suggestions agreed on
and supported by the other countries concerned? Such wishful action is just
another example of an obscurantist slogan for domestic consumption. With Ma’s
proposal still ringing in our ears, the Diaoyutais controversy escalates and the
government brings more shame upon itself.
Ma has backtracked on several other pledges. In the public realm, this includes
his promise to settle the dispute over the KMT’s party assets. These promises
will likely never be fulfilled, eventually granting Ma his proper place in
history as a national leader full of empty promises.
Chen Rong-jye is a legal scholar.
Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat
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