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Ma’s speech vague,
conflicting: analysts
SELF-CONTRADICTORY: The president suggested
setting up a free-trade area with China, but also said he wanted to join a
free-trade group meant to contain China
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
Academia Sinica researcher David
Huang, Taiwan Brain Trust president Wu Rong-i, Taiwan Association of University
Professors president Chang Yen-hsien and People First Party Deputy
Secretary-General Liu Wen-hsiung, left to right, speak at a forum about
President Ma Ying-jeou’s inauguration speech in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) inaugural
speech on Sunday was vague, conflicting and cliched, addressing neither what
should be done to solve domestic economic woes nor uphold Taiwan’s sovereignty,
political analysts told a forum yesterday.
The president did not address what he would do to rejuvenate Taiwan’s economy,
nor did he apologize for a series of ill-advised policies, such as fuel and
electricity price increases and the controversy over imports of meat containing
the feed-additive ractopamine, said Wu Rong-i (吳榮義), president of the Taiwan
Brain Trust think tank, which organized the forum.
Wu desribed the speech as having “one no and four withouts” — meaning Ma showed
no -understanding of public opinion, while he failed to apologize for poor
policies, showed no self-introspection, insisted on using the “one China”
framework and put forward no new ideas.
Ma misinterpreted the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution in his speech because
the “outdated” Constitution should not be used to explain Taiwan’s sovereignty
and the “status quo,” Taiwan Association of University Professors -president
Chang Yen-hsien (張炎憲) said.
Moreover, Chang said, as the president of Taiwan, Ma’s highlighting “Zhonghua
Culture (中華文化)” and “Zhonghua Minzu (中華民族)” was “completely impractical” and
neglected Taiwan’s traditional culture and values.
“The emphasis on Zhonghua Minzu was just what Beijing wanted to hear because it
reaffirmed the connection between Taiwan and China. It also implies that Ma
favors eventual unification,” he said.
Ma’s reiteration of the “one country, two areas (一國兩區)” formula suggested “de
facto unification,” mislead the international community and legitimized
Beijing’s anti-secession law, which was ratified in 2005, said David Huang
(黃偉峰), a researcher at Academia Sinica.
The “one country, two areas” proposal raised eyebrows earlier this year when
former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) delivered it
to Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) during a visit to Beijing.
“It’s clear that the international community recognizes the China in ‘one China’
as the People’s -Republic of China, not the ROC,” Huang said.
People First Party Deputy Secretary-General Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄) said Ma had
turned his back on the people with his inconsistent policies, arrogance and
authoritarianism.
Some of Ma’s policies seemed to be conflicting, Liu said, such as his plan to
establish a free-trade area in Greater Kaohsiung to attract Chinese investment
and his pledge to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an economic integration
that aims to contain China, in eight years.
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