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KMT has no ideas for
a third way for Taiwan
By Michael Danielsen
In 2008, President Ma Ying-jeou (°¨^¤E) came into office with a solid majority in
the legislature. Three years later, and observed from an international
perspective, it is disappointing to see how few original and inspiring ideas Ma
and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government have been able to generate in
order to put Taiwan on the global stage. Instead, the KMT has revealed a
worrying lack of global perspective in finding ways for Taiwan to further
utilize its great potential to advance the nation¡¦s industry and reduce its
increasing dependence on China by cooperating with other advanced countries and
regions, such as the US, Japan and the EU.
It appears that Taiwan¡¦s ruling party has betrayed its fundamental duty to renew
itself and in time formulate a ¡§third way¡¨ forward for the nation. The KMT fails
to move forward because the party is blinded by history and trapped in the past.
As a result, Taiwan is increasingly considered to be leaning toward China.
Additionally, the US is currently debating if Taiwan is worth defending and the
WHO has listed Taiwan as a province of China. Moreover, Taiwan¡¦s hard-won trade
status as an independent member of the WTO has been damaged by the signing of
the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) with China as a
non-governmental organization, not an independent, equal WTO partner.
The ECFA should have kicked the door to the world open, but Taiwan is becoming
increasingly isolated, and is still not welcomed into international and regional
free-trade agreements (FTA). A reality check: China now dictates to Taiwan that
FTAs can only be obtained with countries with which China has an FTA, such as
Singapore.
Despite the KMT¡¦s intimate relations with China, it lacks the ability ¡X or
rather the willingness ¡X to create a credible alternative to its current
policies, which seem to go only one way: toward unification. It has chosen to
ignore the fact that its policies are unsustainable and that they run contrary
to the wishes of the vast majority of Taiwanese. More than 80 percent of
Taiwanese say no to the ¡§one country, two systems¡¨ principle no matter how it is
formulated.
The alternative is a new, third way for Taiwan that will not deny its complex
history, but allow a fresh, forward-looking approach to Chinese and other
international relations. A third way should be both pragmatic and based on solid
policies respecting Taiwanese sovereignty.
A third way, among other policies, should adopt an ambitious and active strategy
that avoids Taipei¡¦s isolation in regional and international FTAs and diminishes
Taiwan¡¦s increasing dependency on China.
Industrial interdependency between Taiwan and a broader set of countries will
clearly reduce Taiwan¡¦s risk of being isolated. This can be achieved if Taiwan
promotes even closer cooperation with other advanced countries and increases its
foreign direct investments. In this process, Taiwan should identify its core
areas of expertise and keep these core parts of the industry at home, as Peter
Chow (©P¹dì) says in a forthcoming book this year at Routledge. In addition,
Taiwan can enhance its financial service industry by cooperating more closely
with the EU, as Copenhagen Economics has said.
By adopting a third way, Taiwan can develop into a leading player in technology
and service products with less focus on products with low value. More research
and innovation needs to be directed into new exciting products.
The KMT, with its vast legislative majority, has wasted four years, blinded by
and trapped in an obsolete Republic of China perspective instead of looking at
the pragmatics and real world of Taiwanese society of today.
Michael Danielsen is the chairman of Taiwan Corner.
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