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Asserting our claims the wrong way
Wednesday, Sep 22, 2010, Page 8
On Monday afternoon last week, the Coast Guard Administration
(CGA) sent 12 patrol vessels into the waters off the Diaoyutai islands (³¨³½¥x) for
what it called a ¡§routine patrol.¡¨ Two members of an association aimed at
asserting the Republic of China¡¦s (ROC) sovereignty over the Diaoyutais followed
in a fishing boat, protected by the coast guard vessels.
Early the next morning, the 12 coast guard boats had a more than four-hour
standoff with seven ships of the Japan Coast Guard, after which they escorted
the two activists back to Taiwan. If protecting Taiwan¡¦s claims over the
Diaoyutais by treating our overall national interests as some kind of child¡¦s
game is the only ¡X albeit useless ¡X way the ¡§passionate youth¡¨ of yore can think
of after reaching the ranks of the ¡§passionate middle-aged,¡¨ then it is safe to
say that we are now facing the ¡§domino effect¡¨ the pan-blue camp hangers-on have
been worried about.
Regardless of what was behind this incident, the fact that another dispute over
the Diaoyutais has occurred only two months before the November special
municipality elections will be the last straw that breaks middle voters¡¦ trust
in the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). This most recent dispute over the
Diaoyutais is completely different to the sinking of a Taiwanese ship in 2008 by
a Japanese coast guard vessel in terms of its causes, nature and timing. It is
definitely not an issue ¡§that will flare up every now and then¡¨ and therefore
can be ignored as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had declared.
President Ma Ying-jeou¡¦s (°¨^¤E) administration, which is leaning heavier and
heavier toward the deep-blue end of the spectrum, has made a series of
consecutive misjudgments and reckless moves on crucial issues lately, thereby
managing to involve Taiwan in the territorial dispute between the US, Japan and
China. In doing so, the government has further fueled perceptions among the
international community that Taipei is currying favor with Beijing. A few days
ago, China¡¦s Taiwan Affairs Office even ¡§praised¡¨ the move, saying it was in
line with the interests of both sides of the Taiwan Strait. This is a major
policy mistake by Ma caused by his Sinocentric world view and his lack of
international perspective.
The recent problem over the Diaoyutais started on the morning of Sept. 7 when a
Chinese fishing boat sailed into the area and was intercepted by a Japanese
patrol vessel. As it was being intercepted, the two boats collided and the
Chinese vessel and its crewmembers were taken into custody by Japanese
authorities. While this was an accident, protests by both China and Japan and
the ongoing US-Japan joint military exercises in the background caused the
situation to quickly deteriorate. Beijing announced it would postpone talks with
Tokyo originally scheduled for the middle of this month on jointly developing
oil fields in the East China Sea. There have also been reports of attacks by
Chinese nationalists against schools for Japanese nationals in China.
While all this was going on, a group of activists from China, Hong Kong and
Macau came to Taiwan to join forces with Taiwanese activist groups and travel
together to the Diaoyutais to ¡§protest.¡¨ The question of how the Ma
administration strikes a balance between protecting Taiwanese sovereignty,
consolidating alliances with other nations and securing tangible interests will
be a real test of the administration¡¦s governing skills.
First, Taiwan, Japan and China have all declared that the uninhabited Diaoyutais
belong to them. However, according to the Treaty of San Francisco, the
Diaoyutais were not viewed as territory that Japan should relinquish after World
War II and Tokyo agreed to the US administering the Ryukyu Islands and other
islands under a UN mandate. In 1971, the US and Japan signed the Okinawa
Reversion Agreement, which returned the administration of the Diaoyutais to
Japan. The first moves to protect the ROC¡¦s claims over the Diaoyutais were made
the following year. When the US Senate passed the Okinawa Reversion Agreement,
it made a distinction between administrative power and sovereignty, claiming
that the transfer of administrative power did not involve sovereignty. This is
why the dispute over the Diaoyutais continues to this day.
On the one hand, the Diaoyutais fall under the scope of the Treaty of Mutual
Cooperation and Security between the US and Japan. On the other hand, the
Diaoyutais contain large oil reserves and fishery resources. With Taiwan¡¦s best
interests at heart, the best solution would of course be to hold talks with
Japan in order to find ways of putting aside differences and cooperating to
develop the region. At the same time, Taiwanese fishing rights should be
guaranteed.
The worst solution would be to cooperate with China and engage in childish
provocation against Japan by sending ships to nominally protect claims over the
Diaoyutais. The Ma administration has chosen the worst way possible, hurting the
interests of Taiwan as well as other nations by making mistakes regardless of
whether it decides to do nothing, something substantial, or only a little. The
problem lies in the fact that the government¡¦s notion of a ¡§Greater China¡¨ has
completely overshadowed its understanding of Taiwanese sovereignty.
There should be no dispute over Taiwan¡¦s sovereignty, but we have seen the
government put the issue aside to sign 14 agreements with China. As the current
administration¡¦s time in office is coming to an end, negotiations on fishing
rights between Taiwan and Japan have failed to produce any results. The
government is getting its priorities mixed up and wasting taxpayers¡¦ money to
send out fleets to claim ROC sovereignty over the Diaoyutais.
It does not, however, explain why the CGA did nothing when a Chinese fishing
boat entered the waters off the Diaoyutais. Nor does it explain why no ship was
sent to the rescue when a Taiwanese fishing boat was sunk two years ago, yet a
dozen ships were sent to protect two activists, embarrassing the nation. We must
ask whether the government is looking after its citizens and keeping its eyes on
the bigger issues at hand, or if its is playing political games and venting its
personal anti-Japanese sentiment. The answer should be easy to see.
When the CGA-escorted boat with the two activists left the Diaoyutai area,
activist groups from Hong Kong and Macau at the Yeliou (³¥¬h) fishing port raised
banners calling on people to crush Japanese militarism and to swear to protect
the nation¡¦s territories in a scene reminiscent of the Boxer Rebellion late in
the Qing Dynasty. However, what does ¡§nation¡¨ on their banners refer to? The Ma
regime has a confused view of its national identity. One can only speculate if
the KMT domino will remain standing when the ROC ceases to exist.
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