Ma sticks to ROC Constitution’s writ
　

‘FREE REGION’: The president said that adhering to the 1991 interpretation of cross-strait relations had contributed to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait
　

By Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTER
Monday, Dec 29, 2008, Page 3

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday that the Republic of China (ROC) was an independent sovereignty whose territory covered China, as dictated by the ROC Constitution.

Ma made the remarks while addressing senior government officials attending a workshop on mainland affairs in Taipei yesterday morning.

Ma said he had not invented the notion of cross-strait relations as it was clearly defined in the ROC Constitution. While both sides of the Strait refused to recognize each other between 1949 and 1991, the status of the two sides changed in 1991 when the ROC Constitution was first amended, he said. It was further validated by the Act Governing Relations between the Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) in 1992, he said.

“The concept was introduced 17 years ago during Lee Teng-hui’s (李登輝) presidency and the former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration did not change it at all during its eight years in power,” Ma said.

Ma said such a notion was an important element keeping the Taiwan Strait stable, adding that a majority of Taiwanese was in favor of maintaining the so-called “status quo.”

I am doing exactly what the people are hoping for, he said.

Ma said he did not denigrate Taiwan’s sovereignty by upholding such a concept, as the constitutional amendment clearly refers to Taiwan as the “free region” and China as the “mainland region.”

“The free region and the mainland area are part of the territory of the Republic of China,” he said. “The Republic of China is a sovereign country, whose sovereignty has been independent since it was founded in 1912.”

Countries that split after World War II have similar constitutions, including Germany and South Korea, he said.

While both sides refused to recognize each other between 1949 and 1991, Ma said, they have gradually moved toward “mutually not denying each other” since 1992.

Commenting on the cross-strait direct transportation links, Ma said his definition of a “cross-strait route” was that it was “a special route.”

“It is not a black-or-white answer,” he said. “By doing so, we put aside differences and create a win-win situation.”

Ma also defended his administration’s efforts to bypass an international treaty on endangered species to import two giant pandas from China

Despite a claim by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) that the import was a “domestic trade,” Ma said “it was quite clear and simple” that it was not a “domestic trade,” as the two animals had to go through customs.

Emphasizing that China is a threat as well as an opportunity, Ma said his administration had a mandate to minimize the threat and maximize the opportunities.

The international community should welcome the thawing relations across the Strait and should appreciate that Taiwan has become a “peacemaker” rather than a “troublemaker,” Ma said.

While some have criticized him for tilting toward Beijing, Ma said he only leaned toward Taiwan and that he had never done anything that compromised the sovereignty, national interest or honor of the country.

“There is no need to worry that I will sell out Taiwan, because [for me] Taiwan is always the focus and the people’s interest always comes first,” he said.

Police not above the law

Over the past few months I have witnessed a number of incidents in which police have acted inappropriately toward peaceful protesters. Some of these incidents occurred during the time of Chinese envoy Chen Yunlin’s (陳雲林) visit to Taiwan, but there have been others, both before and after.

In all these cases, people were protesting peacefully. They merely wanted to express their opinions and be heard by the government. They were acting in a reasonable manner and had no intention of causing unnecessary disturbance to the general public.

Taiwan needs to put in place clear mechanisms for investigating police misconduct. Police are responsible for upholding the law, but they should never be above the law. There also needs to be an independent commission established to thoroughly investigate the incidents that happened during Chen’s visit.

I know the police do a difficult job and work very long hours. However, I would like to humbly offer some advice to them.

First, they should make more of an effort to communicate with protesters. Engaging in dialogue and negotiation can resolve the vast majority of conflicts. It also allows both sides to develop greater mutual respect toward each other.

Second, they must at all times respect human rights and the law. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and chapter two of the Constitution provide the basic principles on which laws are founded. The laws provide a further framework for these rights. It is the police force’s job to enforce the law.

However, human rights should always be used as the first principle.

DAVID REID
Sindian, Taipei County

Beijing is controlling our destiny

Monday, Dec 29, 2008, Page 8

The two-day Cross-Strait Economic, Trade and Cultural Forum (國共經貿論壇) held between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) ended on Dec. 21 in Shanghai.

As expected, during the closing ceremony, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Chairman Wang Yi (王毅) announced a series of measures to help Taiwan. These measures included extra financing of up to 130 billion yuan (US$19 billion) for Taiwanese businesspeople investing in China from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC, 中國工商銀行) and other banks, and plans to purchase US$2 billion worth of Taiwanese manufactured flat screen panels.

He also called for Taiwanese businesses to take an active part in construction projects aimed at increasing domestic demand in China, assisting Taiwanese-invested businesses in China to transform and upgrade, encouraging and supporting Taiwanese-invested businesses to carry out innovation, establish farms in China for Taiwanese farmers, increasing the amount of Taiwanese fresh produce sold in China and allowing Taiwanese citizens who meet certain criteria to practice law in China.

On the surface, these measures may seem extremely useful for getting Taiwan out of its current economic woes. However, when viewed rationally, it is easy to see that these measures are nothing but sugar-coated poison pills aimed at gradually and systematically ruining Taiwan, both politically and economically.

Firstly, during the cross-strait forum, China has tried to put itself across as the motherland coming to the rescue of struggling Taiwan. By doing so, it is trying to turn Taiwan into a new Hong Kong or Macau, with the aim of colonizing it economically and politically. Before their respective handovers, both Hong Kong and Macau had flourishing economies and their people enjoyed political freedom, especially in Hong Kong, a primary financial center in Asia. However, after the return of Hong Kong and Macau to China, both their economies fell to a point where they were forced to rely on China’s help.

During the 1997 Asian economic crisis, Hong Kong relied on help from China to escape economic collapse. This, however, also made it impossible for Hong Kong to escape from China’s control. After the handover, Hong Kong’s economy took a turn for the worse and hit rock bottom in 2003 when the territory was gripped by the SARS epidemic. At this time, China managed to create a false sense of prosperity in Hong Kong by measures to boost the economy that included allowing Chinese tourists to travel freely within Hong Kong and ratifying economic agreements that brought the territory closer to China, such as the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement.

The false sense of prosperity created in Hong Kong by China means that although the economy may prosper, that prosperity is inextricably linked to China and the decisions its leaders make. In the event that China does not want to help Hong Kong, the territory’s economy would be finished.

Macau’s situation is exactly the same. Now, faced with the financial crisis, although China is having a tough time helping itself, it still is not too much trouble for Beijing to give some assistance to Hong Kong and Macau, since they are relatively small places. In addition, this “assistance” once again confirms China’s ruling status over Hong Kong and Macau.

By saying that they will give assistance to Taiwan, China is basically viewing Taiwan in the same way as Hong Kong and Macau, which means that China wants to use these methods to turn Taiwan into another Hong Kong or Macau, for which Beijing views the KMT-CCP forum as the best platform.

Secondly, the Ma administration sent five government officials to China to take part in the forum, which was against the Act Governing Entry Permission to Mainland China for Government Employees and Persons with Special Status in the Taiwan Area (台灣地區公務員及特定身分人員進入大陸地區許可辦法), which states that political officials can only go to China to attend international conferences.

In essence, this was the same as Ma taking back what he previously said about the KMT-CCP forum being a secondary channel for handling cross-strait issues and recognizing that the forum Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) is trying so hard to promote is in fact the primary channel for deciding cross-strait policy. In other words, in the future, the government’s China policies will no longer be controlled by the Presidential Office, the Cabinet and the legislature. Decisions will first be made by the KMT-CCP forum and then handed over to the Ma administration for implementation.

This will mean that it is the KMT and the CCP, or to be more precise, the CCP alone that will decide the future of Taiwan and its people. In this scenario, all the Presidential Office, Cabinet and legislature can do is wait for orders from above.

In the future, the Ma administration is going to loosen restrictions and allow even more of Taiwan’s political officials to go to China. By that time, in addition to Taiwan’s economy being totally controlled by China, we will also have no way of protecting the confidentiality of Taiwan’s national defense, military and diplomatic information, and this will put Taiwan’s national security in severe danger.

We should take a good look at Hong Kong. At least Hong Kong was able to gain some economic benefit from its return to China. However, all the government’s kowtowing has gained nothing for Taiwan. A mere 10 percent of the originally promised 3,000 Chinese tourists that were supposed to visit Taiwan each day via the direct charter flights have come to Taiwan and the majority of passengers on weekend charter flights are Taiwanese businesspeople.

An inordinate proportion of the passengers on cross-strait flights are Taiwanese people going to China rather than Chinese tourists coming here. After the official three-links are opened and Taiwan becomes more closely linked with China’s coastal regions, industry will be further undermined and more talent and funds will flow out of Taiwan.

The Taiwanese public must make efforts at self-recovery for the economy to bounce back. We need to improve Taiwan’s domestic investment environment, offer discounts to local businesses on rent, water and electricity and start to improve the fundamentals of Taiwan’s economy. The investment environment in China is worsening by the day and this can be used to start attracting Taiwanese businesspeople back to Taiwan. These are fundamental ways to reinstill life into Taiwan’s economy.

Unfortunately, the government is taking an extreme pro-China stance on issues like national identity, ideology, economics, politics and diplomacy.

China is the Ma administration’s only savior and worshiping China is all the Ma government knows. China has used the Cross-Strait Economic, Trade and Cultural Forum to issue orders to the Ma administration. In doing so, it has effectively trampled on Ma and his government, the legislature and the Taiwanese public.

This is all the result of Ma’s own wrongdoing.