MAC head turns on China over tourism
　

GROUNDLESS CLAIMS: Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan accused a Taiwan Affairs Office official of having ‘little understanding’ of Taiwan’s democracy
　

By Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Oct 16, 2009, Page 1

A Beijing official’s claim that Chinese tourists were avoiding Kaohsiung because certain people in the city were aligning themselves with Tibetan and Uighur separatist forces demonstrated ignorance and “hurt the feelings of Taiwan’s people,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) said yesterday.

Lai was referring to comments that China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Spokeswoman Fan Liqing (范麗青) made on Wednesday in response to media inquiries about the falling number of Chinese tourists visiting Kaohsiung.

Chinese tourists began cutting the city from their itinerary after the Dalai Lama visited southern Taiwan in the wake of Typhoon Morakot and the city government rejected demands to prevent a documentary about Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer from being screened at the Kaohsiung Film Festival.

“It is natural that Chinese tourists would express their displeasure, because there are forces in Kaohsiung City who align themselves with separatist forces supporting Tibetan and Uighur independence, which creates trouble and runs counter to the core interests of the mainland,” Fan said on Wednesday. “It hurts the feelings of their mainland compatriots.”

Fan’s remarks were the first time a Chinese official had referred to tourists boycotting Kaohsiung.

Fielding questions from Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators during a meeting of the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee, Lai said Fan was making “groundless accusations.”

“It shows she has little understanding of Taiwan’s democracy. She hurt the feelings of Taiwan’s people,” Lai said.

At a separate setting yesterday, the Presidential Office encouraged Chinese tourists to visit Kaohsiung, but stopped short of denouncing Beijing for its apparent boycott of the city.

Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said Kaohsiung residents were as friendly and hospitable as any other Taiwanese and that the city had many worthwhile attractions.

Wang said Chinese tourists should not miss the opportunity to visit Kaohsiung.

The Kaohsiung City Government, meanwhile, urged the central government to take note of the Chinese tourist boycott of the city.

Kaohsiung Information Office director-general Hsu Li-ming (許立明) said China was using tourists as a bargaining chip to achieve political goals.

Hsu said Taiwan considered democracy and human rights important, which was why the city government did not interfere with the organization of the Kaohsiung Film Festival, which opens today.

Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) said that the city welcomed visitors from any country, “even tourists from China.”

“I hope other countries won’t impose restrictions on the places their tourists can visit just because [some countries] have different values,” Chen said.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順), who represents a constituency in the city, said both China and the Kaohsiung City Government were to blame for the boycott.

Huang said the city government had been “provocative” in its handling of the Dalai Lama’s visit and the screening of the documentary, The 10 Conditions of Love, by director Jeff Daniels.

Chen’s office asks top prosecutor to provide evidence
　

By Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Oct 16, 2009, Page 3

The office of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday challenged State Public ­Prosecutor-General Chen Tsung-ming (陳聰明) to produce evidence to substantiate his claim that the former president and his family has hidden US$100 million (NT$3.3 billion) in Switzerland.

In a statement, the office said it suspected Chen Tsung-ming of committing malfeasance and that he was unfit for his job, adding that the Taipei District Court estimated that the former president and his family had laundered NT$560 million, not NT$3.3 billion as Chen Tsung-ming claimed.

“Why such a discrepancy? State Prosecutor-General Chen Tsung-ming must produce solid evidence to prove this allegation,” the statement said. “The Special Investigation Panel [SIP] also owes the public an explanation as to whether it has once again concealed evidence and abused its power of detention.”

Chen has been in custody since December. He and his wife were sentenced to life in prison for graft, making them the first former first couple in the country’s history to be indicted and convicted.

The office issued the statement in response to a China Times report yesterday that said Chen Tsung-ming had confirmed during a legislative hearing on Wednesday that the SIP had requested last year that the Swiss judiciary freeze the assets of the former family, which were worth more than US$100 million.

The report claimed that the former president’s son, Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), mentioned the US$100 million in a statement recently issued by the office on his behalf.

The office yesterday said the previous statement it issued merely quoted the SIP, which suspected the first family of hiding US$100 million in Switzerland. However, it differed from the actual amount, the office said.

Expressing “strong protest and deep regret,” the office said the China Times story did not double check the facts before they printed the report, which it said was misleading.

Former first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) yesterday also issued a statement dismissing Chen Tsung-ming’s claim as “not conforming to the truth.”

Saying she found the allegation “hard to accept,” Wu said the NT$1.2 billion in the Swiss bank had been frozen and that not a single family member could access it.

“Legal inquiry must build the case on objective evidence,” the statement said. “Baseless ‘estimations’ distributed through mass media not only mislead the public but also is not fair to the Chen family.”

Wu said she had already made a clear account of the family’s overseas accounts in court and that the public could determine whether her son and daughter-in-law had done their best to wire the money back.

Meanwhile, the former president’s office yesterday requested that the Ministry of Justice and the SIP conduct a thorough inquest into the 319 election eve assassination attempt against Chen and former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) after Chen Tsung-ming said on Wednesday that prosecutors had found “new problems that made the situation different.”

The former president has said on numerous occasions that he was a victim of the shooting and that he wanted to know the truth so that he could counter allegations that the whole incident was staged, his office said.

As the case was closed by then Tainan District Office chief prosecutor Chu Chao-liang (朱朝亮), the office urged Chen Tsung-ming to explain to the public whether Chu had committed serious omissions during the investigation, as the finding of the case ran counter to Chen Tsung-ming’s claim.

PRC propping up Ma, US magazine claims
　

By William Lowther
STAFF REPORTER IN WASHINGTON
Friday, Oct 16, 2009, Page 3

“Certainly things seem to be trending downward for Ma and his Kuomintang [Chinese Nationalist Party] (KMT) ... and based on recent experience, Beijing dreads a resurgence of the more confrontational DPP.”— Nicholas Consonery, Asia analyst at Eurasia Group

The highly regarded US magazine Foreign Policy has published an article claiming that Beijing is working to prop up President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and help him to stay in power.

The article — under the headline “Can Beijing Save the Taiwanese President?” — was written by Nicholas Consonery, an Asia analyst with the Eurasia Group, a New York-based political risk research and consulting firm.

Consonery wrote that Beijing and Taipei will “work feverishly” over the next six months to expand economic ties “in the hope” of strengthening Ma’s domestic standing and stopping a rebound by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Consonery, who specializes in Chinese banking and financial policy, said Ma was a “relative darling” in Beijing when he was elected last year because he had vowed to focus on the economics of cross-strait relations while avoiding politics.

“Beijing was happy to accommodate this approach because it coalesced with the leadership’s broader plan to secure sovereignty over the island through gradual economic integration,” Consonery said.

He added that Ma’s recent political troubles, particularly his mishandling of the Typhoon Morakot disaster, have left him vulnerable and that Beijing fears his re-­election prospects in 2012 may be imperiled.

“Certainly things seem to be trending downward for Ma and his Kuomintang [Chinese Nationalist Party] (KMT) ... and based on recent experience, Beijing dreads a resurgence of the more confrontational DPP,” Consonery wrote.

As a result, the article says, China will be handing out economic concessions to Taiwan in the next six months “hoping that they will bolster Ma’s prospects.”

Consonery predicts Ma will “happily accept” these concessions to regain political strength by improving commercial ties with China.

On the other hand, Consonery said, Ma recognized that the DPP’s growing strength would make concessions to China more contentious and he will want to accomplish as much as possible this year.

The article concludes that the DPP could secure one-quarter representation in the legislature in the next few months, giving it more leverage in combating the KMT’s majority coalition. This in turn could lead to the sort of infighting that would dominate domestic news and pull Ma away from his strategic and economic goals.

And that, Consonery wrote, would cause “more than a little heartburn in Beijing.”

Court upholds sentence for Chui Yi toupee snatcher

By Shelley Huang
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Oct 16, 2009, Page 3
　

The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s five-year sentence against Huang Yung-tien (黃永田) for snatching Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmaker Chiu Yi’s (邱毅) toupee last December.

Huang may pay a NT$150,000 fine in lieu of the prison sentence. The ruling is final and cannot be appealed.

Huang, a supporter of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), in December grabbed Chiu’s hair piece in front of the Control Yuan as Chiu was initiating impeachment proceedings against Judge Chou Chan-chun (周占春) for his decision to release Chen from detention.

When the Taipei District Court tried the case, judges ruled that Huang’s action was intentional after examining video recordings. In January, the district court sentenced Huang to five months in jail for depriving Chiu of his right to “look good.”

Huang said he was present at the Control Yuan at the time of the incident, but he has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, insisting that his action was accidental. He told high court judges he was only trying to get a photo with Chiu, but because a guard thought he was trying to harm Chiu, the guard pulled his left hand, causing his right hand to accidentally pull off Chiu’s hair piece.

High court judges found that the extent of destruction caused to the hair piece indicated it was torn off violently. Judges therefore ruled in favor of Chiu.

Taiwan loses key ally in US House
　

‘GREATLY MISSED’: Finding someone who has similar access to the president’s ear on matters pertaining to Taiwan — as Robert Wexler did — will be very difficult
　

By William Lowther
STAFF REPORTER, IN WASHINGTON
Friday, Oct 16, 2009, Page 3

US Congressman Robert Wexler, co-chairman of the Taiwan Caucus, has shocked Capitol Hill with the unexpected announcement that he would resign from the House in January.

Wexler, 48, a Democrat, is to become president of the Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation in Washington.

Insiders said that he was leaving public office for financial reasons.

“He will be greatly missed, it’s a big loss for Taiwan,” said Coen Blaauw, executive director of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs.

Wexler was one of the original four co-chairmen when the Caucus was first formed in 2002 and is the last remaining member of the Caucus group known as “the founding fathers.”

Under his leadership, the Caucus has grown from its original 85 members to its current 135 members.

“He has been one of the most vocal supporters of Taiwan in the US Congress,” Blaauw said.

“Congressman Wexler has been energetic and passionate. He has been a tireless fighter,” he said.

There is no obvious replacement and Caucus members are likely to wait until Wexler actually leaves in January before electing a new co-chair.

It was Wexler who introduced the Congressional resolution saying it was US policy that the future of Taiwan should be resolved peacefully and democratically with the express consent of the people of Taiwan. More recently, he has been a supporter of a US-Taiwan free-trade agreement.

Wexler made his surprise resignation announcement at a news conference on Wednesday morning in Boca Raton, Florida. He represents Florida’s 19th District — a safe Democratic seat he could have held for as long as he wanted it.

“Those who know me and those who have followed my career know that one of my overriding passions has been my work on the Foreign Affairs Committee,” he said.

He said that in his new job he would work to strengthen and preserve the “unbreakable bond” between the US and Israel and fight for a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East.

Wexler has been a member of Congress for 13 years.

An early supporter of US President Barack Obama, Wexler is close to the White House and it will be very difficult for the Taiwan Caucus to find anyone with such ready access to the president’s ear.

No special privileges for Chinese offspring: MOE
　

By Flora Wang
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Oct 16, 2009, Page 4

The Ministry of Education yesterday rejected allegations that it had asked local educational bureaus to give children from Chinese spouses’ former marriages preferential treatment when they apply for schools in Taiwan.

Chen Shang-mei (陳尚梅), an official of the ministry’s Mainland Affairs Task Force, confirmed that the ministry did issue an official document on Oct. 2 asking local education agencies to “help children from Chinese spouses’ former marriages with schooling” in Taiwan.

However, Tainan City councilors who have criticized the move had misinterpreted its instructions, Chen said, adding that the children would not be granted any preferential benefits as the councilors alleged.

Tainan City councilors Wang Ting-yu (王定宇), Lin Mei-yen (林美燕), Lee Ching-hsin (李慶信) and Yeh Chun-liang (葉俊良) blasted the ministry on Wednesday, saying the rights of Taiwanese students would be compromised as the children from Chinese spouses’ former marriage would be entitled to admissions to public kindergartens or elementary or junior high schools near their residence under the ministry’s Regulations Governing the Education and Residency of Underaged Children From Chinese Spouses’ Former Marriages (大陸配偶前婚姻未成年子女來台依親就學注意事項).

Citing the document, the councilors said these children from China would also be entitled to bonus points of up to 25 percent of their grades in high school or college entrance examinations in Taiwan, which is a privilege granted to children of outstanding science or technology talent overseas.

Chen said yesterday that the Regulations Governing Entrance for Mainland-Area Peoples to Taiwan (大陸地區人民進入臺灣地區許可辦法), which was amended by the Ministry of the Interior on Aug 12, stipulate that these Chinese offspring from former marriages can apply for schooling in Taiwan in accordance with the Guidelines Governing the Education of Children of Outstanding Overseas Science and Technology Talent (境外優秀科學技術人才子女來臺就學辦法).

The guidelines state that Chinese children need to go through the same process as local students if they were to pursue further education in Taiwan after they graduate from a Taiwanese school.

“They can only apply for study in [middle and senior] high schools or vocational high schools,” Chen said, adding that under current regulations, it would be impossible for Chinese children to enter university in Taiwan unless they have a Taiwanese ID.
　

KMT lawmakers call for ouster of Japanese envoy
　

'UNDETERMINED': The foreign minister said Tokyo had already made its position clear that Masaki Saito's comment on Taiwan's status was his personal opinion
　

By Jenny W. Hsu
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Oct 16, 2009, Page 4

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday resumed their attacks on Masaki Saito, demanding that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) expel the Japanese government's representative to Taiwan.

Saito incurred the ire of the pan-blue camp in May when he told a university forum that Taiwan's status remained “undetermined.” The comment immediately drew caustic remarks from the KMT, which accused Saito of propagating false information and said that such action was unfitting of a diplomat.

While MOFA has repeatedly said that the matter was settled, pan-blue lawmakers continued to seek his expulsion.

“It is virtually unheard of for a diplomat to openly question the sovereignty of his host country. MOFA must protect Taiwan's national dignity by asking Saito to be removed in three months,” KMT Legislator Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) said in the legislature.

Another KMT lawmaker, Shuai Hua-ming (帥化民), upped the ante by demanding that Saito be kicked out by next week.

In an attempt to douse the anger in the room, Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) said the matter had been dealt with and Tokyo’s position was clear — Saito's comment was his personal opinion and did not represent the Japanese government's.

As for Saito's fate, Yang said: “We have explained our sentiment on this issue and [I believe] the Japanese government will make the appropriate decision.”

While Saito's remark has been heavily criticized by the pan-blues, the pan-green camp has largely supported his comment and said he should not be reprimanded for speaking the truth.

The Japanese Interchange Association could not be reached for comment yesterday.

This year has been designated the Taiwan-Japan Special Partnership Year. Under Saito's watch, there has been an increase in educational and cultural exchanges between the two countries, including a program that allows Taiwanese youth under 30 years of age to apply for Japan's working holiday program. The foreign ministry is also scheduled to open a branch office in Sapporo before the year ends.

In other news, the ministry said it would raise passport fees starting in January to cover increased costs.

The ministry started issuing passports with an embedded integrated circuit in December. Plans to raise the fee from NT$1,200 to NT$1,600 has met with opposition, however.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) argued that charging the public an additional NT$400 is “treating people like ATMs [automated teller machines],” especially during an economic crunch.

Tsai said the Bureau of Consular Affairs had to destroy 130,000 un-issued passports last year because of the switch and there are still 160,000 in stock.

Bureau Director-General Loh Yu-chung (羅由中) said the price hike would only apply to people 14 years and above applying for a new 10-year passport to offset the cost of the electronic chip.

Charges for five-year passports for children below the age of 14 will remain unchanged.

DPP Taipei City councilor accuses mayor of slander
　

MAOKONG: Hung Chien-yi said Hau Lung-bin had damaged his reputation by accusing him of fabricating a news story about security around the gondola area
　

By Shelley Huang
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Oct 16, 2009, Page 4

Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City Councilor Hung Chien-yi (洪健益) yesterday filed a lawsuit accusing the mayor and two other city officials of aggravated slander stemming from a dispute over the Maokong Gondola.

Hung yesterday pressed the bell in front of the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office to press charges against Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), Taipei City spokesman Chao Hsin-ping (趙心屏) and the city’s Law and Regulation Commission head Yeh ­Ching-yuan (葉慶元), saying they had damaged his reputation.

The city government had earlier accused Hung and a Formosa TV news reporter of fabricating a news report about the Maokong Gondola not having enough security to keep out trespassers.

The Maokong Gondola has been shut down for more than a year after landslides damaged several pillars.

The city government responded by releasing a footage from surveillance cameras showing there was a security guard in the area. Both sides then vowed to sue each other.

LAX

Hung yesterday said the fact that the Taipei City Government recently assigned more security personnel to the Maokong Gondola and replaced a wooden door with a metal gate showed that the government admitted security was lax in the area after it was exposed by the media.

He said he was just fulfilling his duty as a city councilor in supervising the city government, but the city authorities’ allegations that he had faked a news report was unfounded and constituted slander.

“The incident has seriously damaged my reputation,” he said.

Balancing US, PRC comfort zones
　

By Paul Lin 林保華
Friday, Oct 16, 2009, Page 8

When Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was elected president, the immediate US reaction was to heave a sigh of relief because Ma’s pro-­China policies were expected to relax the tense cross-strait relationship. In practice, things have turned out slightly differently, as “pro-China” became “submit to China,” and this raised flags in the US, as can be seen from a series of recent events.

When the new director of the American Institute in Taiwan, William Stanton, visited Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng (王清峰) on Sept. 30, he said that “people overseas had some different thoughts” on the trial of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁). Why would he risk being accused of interfering with Taiwan’s internal affairs by bringing up this case? Clearly because the US now feels it is no longer a clear-cut judicial matter.

In his Oct. 7 column, New York Times columnist Philip Bowring said: “Chen upset a natural ally in [former US president] George W. Bush by needlessly provoking Beijing in an attempt to score political points at home. Now the KMT [Chinese Nationalist Party] seems to have gone to the other extreme.”

To some people, the Chen trial is evidence that pro-­unification advocates are demonizing Chen for his support for Taiwanese independence and for breaking the KMT’s authoritarian rule so they can play up to Beijing.

The editorial in last month’s issue of Taiwan Business Topics, published by the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei, said one topic that deserves to be high on the Cabinet’s priority list is “balancing the advances in cross-Strait ties with further strengthening of relations with the United States, Taiwan’s most important source of international support.”

Bowring makes the same point in his column, saying: “Taiwan seems to be talking itself into believing that it is even more dependent on the mainland than need be the case … [and] dependence on China is often overstated.”

Prior to this, because pro-green supporters were allegedly being excluded from the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, Carl Gershman, president of the Washington-based National Endowment for Democracy, an organization that is also supported by the US Congress, sent a letter to Ma saying: “It has come to my attention through reports in the press that broad changes are being proposed for the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy. I am concerned that such an overhaul could well compromise both the Foundation’s independence and the quality of its work.”

These incidents not only tell us that Ma has been unable to give balanced treatment to Taiwan’s relations with the US and China, but also that this imbalance involves a deterioration of the basic democratic values that any democracy must respect.

What is most upsetting to the US is that during the Typhoon Morakot disaster, Ma blocked US aid teams from entering Taiwan while attempting to bring in rescue personnel from China’s People’s Liberation Army. Ma still has not offered an explanation for this. When the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) was refusing to accept US aid, its minister, Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊), “could not be found.”

Why hasn’t the government provided an explanation of Ou’s whereabouts and who he was meeting with? Maybe Ou, who was made a scapegoat and had to step down in the Cabinet reshuffle, should give the public an explanation.

Not long ago, the government announced that it would not issue visas to World Uyghur Congress leader Rebiya Kadeer and its secretary-general Dolkun Isa because the government claims Kadeer is closely connected with terrorists and because Isa was said to be a terrorist. Because the government feared a lawsuit, it has changed its tune and says the reason for not issuing visas is that it would jeopardize cross-strait relations.

Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said it would “make China feel uncomfortable.” The same reason is given for not letting Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi (李洪志) into the country. Who would have thought that Ma’s guiding principle was to make the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) feel comfortable and that he therefore must keep anyone the CCP doesn’t like out of Taiwan?

As Taiwan is leaning heavily toward the CCP, the US has finally seen Ma’s true colors. On Oct. 7, the Liberty Times, the Taipei Times’ sister publication, reported that sources in Washington revealed that the US administration has completed an internal Taiwan policy review and now intends to send US Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki, a retired US Army four-star general, to visit Taiwan next spring to strengthen US-Taiwan relations. That would be the first such visit since before George W. Bush took office.

Such a move would be certain to make China, which wants to bring down US imperialism and “liberate” Taiwan, feel uncomfortable. It would also make Ma, who is cooperating with China to suppress Taiwanese independence, feel uncomfortable. The question is whether Ma will dare make the US feel uncomfortable by making China feel comfortable.

Paul Lin is a political commentator.

Ma has carefully heeded ‘Hu’s Six Points’
　

By Bill Chang 張國城
Friday, Oct 16, 2009, Page 8

Last year, Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) made six Taiwan policy proposals, generally known as “Hu’s Six Points,” in a speech to commemorate the 30th anniversary of China’s “Message to Compatriots in Taiwan.” The practical implementation of these proposals in Taiwan over the past year has been the basis for development of cross-strait relations.

These are the main principles of Hu’s six points.

First, “China and Taiwan should scrupulously abide by the ‘one China’ principle to improve mutual political trust.” In response to this proposal, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has time and again reiterated the so-called “1992 consensus,” which says both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one country. In the eyes of Beijing, this has provided the essential prerequisite for cross-strait negotiations.

Second, “the two sides should sign a comprehensive agreement on economic cooperation to establish a mechanism with cross-strait characteristics.” Ma’s insistence on signing an economic cooperative framework agreement with China is compatible with the spirit of this proposal.

Third, “China is willing to engage in dialogue with Taiwan on cross-strait cultural and educational exchanges to promote Chinese culture.” Taiwan used to claim to represent orthodox Chinese culture, but now the Ma administration has brought up “reading standard characters while writing with simplified characters” — the first positive Taiwanese reaction in 60 years to the simplified character set used in China.

Fourth, “if the Democratic Progressive Party changes its Taiwan independence separatist position, China will make a positive response.” This is the only proposal on which the Ma government has yet to produce any desirable results.

Fifth, “under the condition that it would not lead to ‘two Chinas’ or ‘one China, one Taiwan,’ the two sides could work out fair and reasonable arrangements through pragmatic talks for Taiwan’s participation in international organizations.” In 2007, Beijing sent a letter to the WHO, requesting the inclusion of “Taiwan Province” under China in the implementation of International Health Regulations. Last year, the government attended the World Health Assembly under the name “Chinese Taipei” — a move considered by the Chinese government as participation under the “one China” framework. Apart from that, the Ma administration has suspended Taiwan’s campaign to gain membership in the UN and the WHO, to which former presidents Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had dedicated a dozen years. The suspension sought to prevent the creation of “two Chinas” or a sovereign and independent Taiwan.

Sixth, “in the special circumstance in which China and Taiwan have yet to be reunited, the two sides could engage in pragmatic negotiations on the development of their political relations and establish a mutual military security mechanism. In addition, the two sides should discuss, under the ‘one-China’ policy, the official ending of the cross-strait state of hostilities and signing a peace accord.” At an international press conference to commemorate his first year in office, Ma said he would not rule out talks with China on political issues if he were to be re-elected in 2012, but a prerequisite would be China removing its missiles aimed at Taiwan. I believe Beijing must have paid close attention to Ma’s call.

Since last year, direct cross-strait transport links have opened and talks between the two sides have been restored. It is clear that nearly every aspect of Hu’s six points is being carried out in practice in Taiwan.

Bill Chang is an advisory committee member at Taiwan Thinktank.