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2012 ELECTIONS: Ma ambiguous,
flip-flops on cross-strait issues: DPP
By Chris Wang and Mo Yan-chih / Staff Reporters
DPP legislative candidate Lo
Chih-cheng, left, criticized Ma’s cross-strait policies at a press conference in
Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Taipei Times
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has been
ambiguous and has constantly flip-flopped on his position on the unification of
Taiwan and China, and he intends to change rather than maintain the “status
quo,” the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday.
Ma, who is seeking re-election next month, has failed to speak out on many
issues, including his position on unification, signing a peace agreement with
China with the prerequisite of a referendum and his Taiwanese-Chinese identity,
among others, making his honesty highly questionable, DPP legislative candidate
Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) and former DPP legislator Julian Kuo (郭正亮) told a press
conference in Taipei.
Ma has publicly stated his goal of unification at least eight times since 2005,
but he has denied those comments whenever he has been challenged, Lo said,
adding that Ma has also backed out of his pledge to make a referendum the
prerequisite of a peace accord with China and he has refused to amend the
Referendum Act (公民投票法).
Ma’s “three noes” policy — no unification, no independence and no use of force —
which he says is a pledge to maintain the “status quo,” could be interpreted as
an attempt to change to the “status quo” because “he does not rule out
unification, denies Taiwan’s sovereignty and he has surrendered Taiwan’s
self-defense,” Lo said.
The DPP submitted six questions to Ma.
The party asked whether unification is the ultimate goal of the Chinese
Nationalist Party (KMT) after the president told Newsweek magazine in an
interview published in December 2005 that “unification is the ultimate goal for
our party.”
The DPP also questioned what his advocation of “no unification” actually means.
“Does it mean that unification is not an option or does it mean he does not rule
out unification as he told the Chinese-language CommonWealth magazine in an
interview in January 2009?” Lo asked.
Lo asked Ma whether his initiative to sign a peace agreement with China in 10
years would be based on the Guidelines for National Unification, as his running
mate Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) has said, and whether the agreement would function
as a prelude to eventual unification.
Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has said that the guidelines ceased to
apply in 2006 and that they have not been reinstated during Ma’s term in office.
Ma appeared to make conflicting comments when he said in a speech at the London
School of Economics and Political Science in February 2006 that he would love to
“create ideal conditions for unification” and a peace agreement would be a
“medium-term goal,” but now he is saying that a peace agreement should be signed
in 10 years, Lo said.
While a majority of the international community recognizes that the People’s
Republic of China (PRC) represents “China” in the “one China principle,” Kuo
said, Ma insists that “China” represents the Republic of China (ROC).
"How are you [Ma] going to deal with the PRC then? Do you intend to eliminate
the PRC or to sign a peace accord under which Taiwan is named as part of China?”
he asked.
The final question emerged after China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesman
Yang Yi (楊毅) said that “Taiwan and China belong to the same country and
bilateral relations were not, are not and will not be state-to-state,” Kuo said.
Whether both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to “one China” — regardless of
whether “China” is the PRC or the ROC — is the core issue of the co-called “1992
consensus,” he said, adding that Ma needs to make his position on the issue
clear and to fulfill his promise that all major political decisions on
cross-strait relations would be determined by Taiwanese.
Kuo said that in terms of his cross-strait policies, People First Party (PFP)
Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) has been more honest than Ma, as the former has
insisted that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to “one China.” Soong has
said that Ma should reinstate the Guidelines for National Unification if he
agrees with the “one China” principle.
Yesterday’s press conference was the third of its kind hosted by the DPP’s
“interpellation group on national affairs,” which was set up to examine Ma’s
performance and to raise questions on cross-strait, domestic and foreign
affairs, as well as defense policies, until election day on Jan. 14.
In response, Ma’s re-election campaign office spokesman Yin Wei (殷瑋) said Ma
would not address the issue of unification during his term in office as he has
promised, adding that Ma’s proposed peace agreement with China would only
proceed under this premise.
"President Ma has repeated his stance on numerous occasions — that he will not
discuss the issue of unification [with China] during his term — that is what ‘no
unification’ means. The president has made that very clear,” Yin said.
The “three noes” policy and the “1992 consensus” remain the main principle
policies for cross-strait development, while Ma’s proposed cross-strait peace
agreement would only be signed with strong domestic support and the supervision
of the legislature, Yin said.
"President Ma is candid on the issue of unification. Does Chairperson Tsai dare
to be candid about the issue of independence?” Yin asked, accusing Tsai and the
DPP of adopting double standards on cross-strait issues, and challenging Tsai to
offer clear explanation as to whether her proposed cross-strait peace mechanism
is based on the premise of independence for Taiwan.
"Why is it that your [Tsai’s] proposal is a promotion of peace, while other
people’s proposed peace agreements sell out Taiwan? This is a clear double
standard,” Yin said.
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