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EDITORIAL: Ma’s ‘one
China’ concession
The meeting in Beijing between former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman
Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) was the first summit
between leaders of the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since Xi took
office earlier this year. Prior to Wu’s departure for Beijing, President Ma
Ying-jeou (馬英九) called him in for a special meeting. Wu presumably received his
blessing to communicate Ma’s stance on cross-strait relations with Xi.
For years, the CCP has been making concessions toward the KMT, but it is
starting to make its impatience known. China has begun pressing Ma to start
repaying Beijing for its covert assistance in winning him his second term in
office, and is demanding that some progress be made on initiating cross-strait
political talks. Ma had no option but to respond to these demands, but to
Taiwan’s detriment, he has evidently gone too far in what he has offered.
The biggest difference between this summit and previous ones is that past
cross-strait discussions have been conducted under the so-called “1992
consensus,” whereas this time, they took place within the “one China” framework
(一中架構). The “1992 consensus” was purportedly that China and Taiwan belong to one
China, but that each side had differing interpretations as to what “China”
means. When the phrase “one China” was used in the abstract context of the “1992
consensus,” it was not really remarked upon in Taiwan or internationally.
However, now that Ma has seemingly abandoned the idea of the “consensus,” the
international community may well interpret the two sides’ apparent acceptance of
the “one China” framework as an indication that Ma and the KMT have resolved to
embrace unification.
If Taiwan as well as the international community recognize the “one China”
framework, then Taiwan’s very sovereignty and claim to nationhood cease to
exist. By accepting the “one China” framework, Ma has shown that he opposes
Taiwanese independence. China can now breathe a sigh of relief: Ma has taken the
bait, the general principle has been established and, for China, Taiwan is now
essentially in the bag.
Taiwan and China are set to agree to sending representatives to and establishing
representative offices in each other’s countries. Ma has said that these offices
would operate on the understanding that cross-strait relations are not
state-to-state relations, but are rather based on a special relationship. That
these representative offices are to be established is undeniably a major
development, but it is difficult to say whether it is going to be good or bad
for Taiwan.
With Hong Kong, China initially set up Xinhua news agency’s Hong Kong branch as
a kind of outpost, and then renamed it the Liaison Office of the Central
People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. This paved
the way for bringing the former British territory into its fold. On the surface,
this liaison office was merely China’s representative office in Hong Kong, but
to all intents and purposes, it had dominion over the Hong Kong government, and
Beijing used it to control the Hong Kong government and Hong Kong affairs. Over
time, the business community and the public came to take note of the mood of the
liaison office.
Will Taiwan go the way of Hong Kong after China’s representative office opens
here? This is extremely likely, given the Ma administration’s attitude to
Taiwan’s sovereignty and its lackadaisical approach to running the country.
Taiwan, then, has just bought passage on the Unification Express. Unless the
opposition parties — the Democratic Progressive Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
Union — can stand up to this, or the public gives the KMT a rap on the knuckles
via the ballot box, cross-strait relations are on the verge of an irreversible
process that will not only be disastrous for democracy in Taiwan, but also for
democracy in China.
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