A call by Formosa Plastics
Group Chairman Wang Yung-ching Tuesday for Taipei to accept Beijing's
"one China" principle was rejected by government officials
and Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers.
The Mainland Affairs Council
issued a statement saying Taiwan could not agree to accept the "one
China" principle.
"Under
the Chinese interpretation of 'one China,' the Republic of China doesn't
exist," the MAC's statement said.
The MAC said that handling
the "one China" problem would require both sides to first
temporarily shelve the dispute to create a more favorable atmosphere
before mutual resolution of the issue.
Meanwhile, government
spokesman Su Tzen-ping said that the ROC government has never shunned
and will not shun the "one China" issue, although the issue
itself has been defined and acknowledged differently by all parties
concerned.
Su said the government's
stance on cross-strait relations is that both sides should shelve
the sovereignty dispute until such time as a "favorable"
atmosphere is nurtured to allow both sides to jointly tackle the "one
China" problem.
However, he pointed out
that the vision of "one China" espoused by Wang himself
in newspaper reports and books in the past as a "Chinese confederation"
comprised of mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, is a concept unacceptable
to Beijing.
Wang,
one of Taiwan's richest industrialists, also repeated a call that
all curbs on investment across the Strait be lifted to bolster the
flagging local business environment. He backed his reasoning by saying
present social and political conditions are more chaotic than the
corruption of the Kuomintang government of 40 years ago.
"Taiwan's
people should calmly accept the 'one China' principle and from this
position of equality both sides can cooperate to enjoy long-lasting
mutual benefits," said Wang, who was speaking at a biotech promotional
event in Taipei. "There is no hatred between the two sides. ...
both sides share common roots," the 84-year-old said.
Wang said Taipei's current
"no haste, be patient" policy on investment in the mainland
should be scrapped.
Currently, the Taiwan
government imposes a limit of US$50 million on any single investment
in mainland China, and totally bans investment in high-tech and infrastructure
projects.
Wang drew criticism from
independence-minded lawmakers for his remarks but also qualified support
from the opposition.
Legislator Tsai Huang-liang,
a DPP whip, roundly condemned Wang's remarks saying the "one
China" principle equaled stripping Taiwan of its national sovereignty
and status.
Tsai argued that the relocation
of Taiwan businesses to mainland China, the opening of direct trade,
travel and transportation links across the Taiwan Strait and the so-called
"one China" policy are actually three different issues that
are not necessarily logically linked.
Beijing's intentional
linking of those issues is a deliberate attempt to make things difficult
for Taiwan and thus create additional tension between the two sides
of the Taiwan Strait, Tsai added.
Tsai continued that Taiwan
has never demanded prerequisites on the development of cross-strait
relations and pointed out that President Chen Shui-bian has on many
occasions stressed that cross-strait issues, including the "one
China" issue as well as the "three direct links" issue,
can all be discussed on a basis of equality.
Tsai added that if Wang
is really concerned about Taiwan's future, he should play a different
role in cross-strait relations and use his personal clout to urge
the Beijing authorities to accept the fact of the ROC's legal and
sovereign existence and resume cross-strait dialogue based on equality.
Wang's remarks received
more favorable responses from among the generally pro-unification
opposition parties.
Lee Cheng-chong, KMT party
secretary, said that if Wang's "one China" comment was said
in the spirit of the 1992 consensus of "one China, each to his
own interpretation" the KMT of course welcomed the remark.
Lee stressed that the
KMT has for long advocated that Taiwan openly recognizes the so-called
"1992 consensus" of "one China, separate interpretations"
and that this stance remains the KMT's set policy as far as cross-strait
relations are concerned.
KMT Legislator Ho Chih-hui,
a former KMT party whip, also called for the DPP to observe what he
claimed is the "mainstream" opinion of the Taiwan public.
"Only when both sides of the Taiwan Strait return to the "1992
consensus" can the cross-strait impasse start to thaw,"
Ho said.
People
First Party convener Chou Hsi-wei said Wang's speech was "very
rational," urging the "new government" to return to
the 1992 consensus and "stop looking at Chinese people with hatred
and causing ethnic rifts within Taiwan."
When Hong Kong was still
under British rule, residents often used the phrase "red fat
cat" (紅色大肥貓) to describe pro-China capitalists in the territory,
who always defended Beijing's communist regime in order to win exclusive
distribution rights for Chinese products and other business opportunities.
Among the more prominent red fat cats were Fok Ying-tung (霍英東), a
former gang boss who has remade himself into vice chairman of the
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and Tsui
Sze-man (徐四民), publisher of Mirror magazine (鏡報) and currently a standing
committee member of the CPPCC.
Beijing has apparently
found a new candidate for the title in Taiwan, in the person of Wang
Yung-ching (王永慶), chairman of the Formosa Plastics Group (FPG).
When Wang asked the Taiwan
government on Tuesday to accept the "one China" principle,
he was trying to give a political justification to Beijing for his
several investment projects now underway in China.
Wang has always used a
two-faced strategy whenever he has faced business difficulties in
Taiwan. He has tried to win better deals from the government by publicly
lambasting it and by stirring up fears that the Formosa group was
about to leave Taiwan for greener pastures -- thereby putting tremendous
pressure on the Ministry of Economic Affairs. He has also curried
favor in Beijing to lay the groundwork for FPG's investments in China.
His argument was that if the Taiwan government does not allow FPG
to set up plants in China, then it must give the conglomerate the
best deals possible at home in terms of loans and land prices. In
this way, FPG managed to squeeze highly favorable investment terms
from the KMT government for its Sixth Naphtha Cracker Plant project
in Yunlin County.
Taiwan's businesses have
been withering, Wang said, because almost nine out of 10 export processing
businesses have moved to China -- even high-tech companies have been
moving their production bases over the past few years. But he then
paradoxically asked the government to encourage businesses to migrate
to China.
Rapid industrial migration
overseas, however, will only further aggravate the domestic economy,
given the inevitable unemployment and capital outflows it will trigger.
Perhaps only a muddled-headed old man like Wang could have uttered
such contradictory remarks. Even more surprising was Wang's comment
that "There is no enmity between Taiwan and the mainland; [the
two sides] should treat each other on an equal basis." Wang appears
confused about who his audience should be -- he should be trying that
line out on the leaders in the Zhongnanhai, given China's military
threats and its constant bullying of Taiwan on every front.
Ever
since martial law was abolished, Taiwan has consistently worked to
ease enmity across the Taiwan Strait by promoting various exchanges.
What has China done? Launched missiles into the seas off Taiwan in
the run-up to the 1996 presidential election and staged large-scale
military maneuvers including practice invasions. And of course, it
rants hysterically at almost any mention of Taiwan in the international
arena. Would Wang just have the people of Taiwan give in quietly to
such intimidation? The people of Taiwan would be better served by
Wang going to Beijing and fighting there for an equitable status for
Taiwan, instead of muttering into his teacup here in Taipei.
Wang
is going to Beijing later this month. But he won't be fighting for
Taiwan or its people. He'll just be looking for ways to fatten his
profits. He will be negotiating for several FPG investment projects,
including a US$5 billion petrochemical project in central China. His
motives for saying what he did on Tuesday cannot be more obvious.
BEIJING, China -- China's army will practice capturing an outlying
Taiwanese island and attacking an aircraft carrier this month, a state-run
newspaper says.
The exercises, involving
land, sea and air forces, will take place on and around Dongshan Island,
off China's southeastern coast in the straits that separate China
and Taiwan, the Beijing Morning Post said.
The
maneuvers will be China's first large-scale war games since the election
of Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian last May, The Associated Press
quotes the newspaper as saying.
It said the combined exercises
are one of the largest conducted by China's 2.5-million member People's
Liberation Army, the world's biggest fighting force.
"The main military
targets of these exercises will be attacking and occupying an outlying
Taiwanese island and attacking an aircraft carrier," the newspaper
said.
The exercises "demonstrate
the Chinese government's determination to protect sovereignty and
territorial integrity," it said.
Taiwan
and China split amid civil war in 1949, but Beijing still regards
the island as part of its territory. China has repeatedly threatened
to attack Taiwan if its government indefinitely rebuffs Beijing's
demands for talks on unification or if it declares outright independence.
The Beijing Morning Post
said forces taking part in the exercises will include missile units,
amphibious tanks, submarines, warships, marine soldiers and Russian-made
Su-27 aircraft -- among the most modern and potent weapons in China's
growing arsenal, according to A.P.
Nearly
10,000 troops have been taking up position on Dongshan Island since
mid-May, the newspaper said.
"Dongshan Island
is now full of all types of Liberation Army units. Troops that have
reached the site of the exercises are intensifying training in order
to prepare for the big maneuvers," the newspaper said.
