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Ma bowing and
scraping to China to secure legacy
By Chen Shan-jung 陳杉榮
Relations between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist
Party (CCP) have never been so good, with the exception of a little blip when
former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) was in office and then-Chinese president
Jiang Zemin (江澤民) ordered missiles fired across the Taiwan Strait to express his
severe umbrage.
This is why Taiwanese have been so understanding of President Ma Ying-jeou’s
(馬英九) record of steering the nation in the direction of Beijing since he assumed
the reins of government.
Ma is not really a man of many talents, but he does like to, in his arrogance,
flaunt his powers in front of the Taiwanese public, while bowing to Beijing’s
every whim.
One would have to imagine that Beijing is quite satisfied, having an adversary
of this caliber.
Taiwan, on the other hand, is all cried out having a man like this as its
president. There are no tears left.
Ma is willing to stoop disappointingly low in his preoccupation with shaking the
hand of his counterpart, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), hoping it will be
the making of his historical legacy and bag him a Nobel peace prize.
This is why every time Xi says jump, Ma asks: “How high?”
After Xi said he wanted political and economic cross-strait exchanges to go
hand-in-hand, Ma dispatched former KMT chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) to tell the
Beijing authorities he thought it was a splendid idea.
National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Committee
Chairman Yu Zhengsheng (俞正聲) suggested during the Cross-Strait Economic, Trade
and Culture Forum that the ratification and implementation of the cross-strait
service trade agreement should be given the highest priority.
In response, Ma immediately agreed and demanded that the legislature ratify the
thing as it was.
Is it really so important that Ma and Xi meet?
Do the authorities in Beijing recognize the existence of the Republic of China
(ROC)?
Has China become democratic?
Did Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Lin Join-sane (林中森) consult with
Taiwanese industry and the general public before he put his name to the proposed
cross-strait service trade agreement?
Did the Ministry of Economic Affairs or the Mainland Affairs Council submit an
impact assessment report about the agreement?
If the “competent” authorities are not being utterly shameless in spending
taxpayers’ money on infomercials that outrageously overplay the opinions of
Taiwanese businesspeople in China and totally disregard the role of the
legislature, how else can their actions be accurately described?
Beijing’s ultimate goal is the extermination of the ROC.
Right now, it wants Ma to see to it that the service trade agreement is passed.
Next on the agenda is for China to designate his successor as leader of the KMT.
After that, it will try to block Taiwan from developing its diplomatic ties,
prevent the nation from purchasing any more weapons from the US and even bypass
the “one country, two systems” model and set Taiwan on a one-way track to
unification.
Taiwanese should not allow Ma and the KMT to let the Chinese communists lord it
over them.
If the KMT wants to dig its own grave, so be it, but the Taiwanese should have
no part of it.
Chen Shan-jung is a reporter for the Liberty Times.
Translated by Paul Cooper
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