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Ma turning a blind
eye to will of Taiwanese
By Lu Shih-hsiang 盧世祥
On the eve of the sale of Next Media Group’s four Taiwanese outlets, a group of
university students braved the chilly winds and the cold rain to stage a sit-in
protest against “media monsters.” Their request to see Premier Sean Chen was
denied. The day before, thousands of workers launched what they called an
“autumn struggle” on Ketagalan Boulevard. The Presidential Office merely
responded with a short comment.
A month ago, when workers knelt down in front of the Presidential Office to call
for help in surviving, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) went to see a movie. In the
face of the nation’s various pension programs’ near-bankruptcy, the opposition
camp has requested that Ma call a national affairs conference, but instead he
held a closed-door meeting with the heads of the Cabinet, Legislative Yuan and
Examination Yuan, rebuffing the opposition.
Judging from its reluctance to communicate with workers and the opposition, the
Ma administration clearly does not take them too seriously. By comparison, its
interaction with China seems to be much closer.
During the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) 18th Party Congress last month,
Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) once again emphasized Beijing’s opposition to
Taiwanese independence. After the congress, on Nov. 20, former Chinese
Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) immediately met with
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Wang Yi (王毅) in China’s Fujian Province,
pledging to further deepen exchanges across the Taiwan Strait, push for the
establishment of offices on each side and amend the Act Governing Relations
between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例).
This is the dark side of the Ma administration. On the one hand, the KMT and the
CCP have cooperated with each other to take control of Taiwan, but they do not
care one iota about Taiwanese. The media monopoly, workers’ financial
difficulties and national pension programs’ near-bankruptcy are all major
issues, but so far, the government has refused to listen to the public or take
any action. It even plays dead, showing that it is neither willing nor able to
face and resolve these crises.
On the other hand, China is making every effort to annex Taiwan and its
opposition to Taiwanese independence has always been consistent, so Hu’s
emphasis on Beijing’s opposition to it is something of a non-issue. If the
expression “Taiwanese independence” refers to maintaining the “status quo,”
meaning the nation’s status as an independent and sovereign country, then that
is a “Taiwanese consensus” acceptable to both the ruling and the opposition
camps.
However, if it refers to a declaration of independence and the replacement of
the Republic of China by a Republic of Taiwan, then that is a change that first
has to stand up to the test of mainstream public opinion, as a part of the civic
right of choice. Support for or opposition to such change is a question that
should be resolved through democratic means.
China opposes Taiwanese independence because it wants to annex the nation. Still
the Ma administration would rather join Beijing in its opposition to the public
will. That not only jeopardizes Taiwanese democracy, it also causes domestic
confusion and confuses the identification of friend from foe, and is likely to
push the nation to the brink of disaster.
Ma, as president, represents all Taiwanese. He should have taken good care of
their universal interests, but instead has repeatedly shut the door on them.
No wonder that criticizing the president has become a national pastime.
Lu Shih-hsiang is an adviser to the Taipei Times.
Translated by eddy chang
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