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The Liberty Times
Editorial : President playing people for fools
When former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) was
recently “granted an audience” with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), Wu
proposed the idea of “one country, two areas (一國兩區)” as an expression of the
KMT’s loyalty to China. However, Chinese media did not report this, probably
because they thought Wu still had something up his sleeve.
The Presidential Office quickly responded to the issue — to clearly convey the
message that Wu’s proposal is what President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wants and that
Hu should not doubt the messenger.
Let the public be the judge if Ma is doing this as a way of repaying Hu for
helping to facilitate his re-election, but one thing is certain: Ma will lose
everything if he keeps giving away his standpoint in this way.
A few days ago, Ma said, through the Presidential Office spokesperson, that
cross-strait ties refer to relations between the Taiwan area and the “mainland
area” of the Republic of China (ROC), with the Taiwan area covering Taiwan,
Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other outlying islands, and the “mainland area”
referring to all of the ROC’s territory outside of Taiwan. He added that “one
China” means the ROC.
Who are these mumblings aimed at?
China, the US and the UN must be falling over laughing at this. Ma may be able
to deceive himself with such rhetoric, but he cannot fool the rest of us.
Ma’s thinking seems stuck in the “good old days” when Nanjing was the ROC’s
capital. This is why he thinks “one China” means the ROC, which includes Taiwan,
“the mainland” and even Mongolia.
Does such an ROC exist in the modern world? Does Ma think he is Emperor Kangxi?
Dare he tell Hu that “the mainland” is ROC territory, or go running to Ulan
Bator to proclaim Mongolia ROC territory?
It is ridiculous for the Ma administration to console itself politically like
this when China has its own ideas about Taiwan.
When Wu made the “one country, two areas” proposal, he probably did not dare
explain that it actually means that “the mainland” belongs to the ROC, like the
Presidential Office spokesperson claimed. Ma’s common sense as far as basic
international law is concerned appears to be questionable.
The People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Mongolia are both members of the UN,
while the ROC is only able to observe meetings of its specialized agencies using
the name “Chinese Taipei.” This is a fact that everyone is well aware of and it
is difficult to see how Ma is going to tell Hu and the international community
about his highly innovative interpretation of international law — in which the
PRC and Mongolia will only be able to attend UN meetings using the name
“observer from Chinese Taipei.”
The only legitimate government of “one China” recognized by the UN is the PRC,
but this has nothing to do with Taiwan’s sovereignty.
However, Ma has other plans and he is now trying to attach Taiwan to “one
China.” He is doing it using his baseless argument that “one China means the
ROC,” to push the erroneous idea that “Taiwan is an area under China.”
He has promoted such whimsical ideas as “one China, with each side having its
own interpretation (一中各表)” and “one country, two areas” to trick the Taiwanese
into thinking they can freely interpret what this means and thus accept the “one
China” and “one country” concept. China also supports “one China” and “one
country,” and it is letting Ma hoodwink the people with this talk.
You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all the
people all the time. There is but one fact and that is the so-called “one China,
with each side having its own interpretation” involves one China, but it has
nothing to do with “each side having its own interpretation.”
In the same vein, “one country, two areas” is in essence all about “one country”
and not two areas at all. The fact is there is only “one China” recognized by
the international community and while there may be a “Taiwan area of the PRC,”
there was never any “mainland area of the ROC.”
Hu would not have it any other way and everyone can rest assured that he would
tell Ma as much.
The key point here is that the play Ma and Hu are acting out together has two
parts — a real part that is “one China” and “one country,” and a false part that
is “each side having its own interpretation” and “two areas.”
They are trying to use the fake part to trick Taiwanese into accepting what they
want. It seems people are right when they call Ma a liar and say believe in him
at your peril.
Translated by Drew Cameron
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