Houston Community News >> Taiwan President Juggles One China, Two Identities
3/29/2008 (CBC News)-- Ma Ying-Jeou,
Taiwan's new president has a problem: too much success.
This was perhaps best illustrated when — the day after winning — Ma described himself as a strong anti-communist who would gladly invite the Dalai Lama to come to Taiwan for a visit. Interesting style for the guy who's going to improve relations with China.
By winning the presidency with almost 60 per cent of the vote, Ma has cemented Nationalist Party (also known as Kuomintang, KMT for short) control on the levers of power, because in January they eviscerated the Democratic Progressive Party, taking three quarters of the seats.
Oh sure, right now everything looks great. The Taiwan stock market showed signs of the island's old moneymaking abilities when it soared on the first opening day after Ma's victory. And even China's state media alluded to an improvement in relations across the Taiwan Strait as a result.
Everything was all warm and glowing when Ma campaigned on opening the door to more Chinese tourists, and on lifting restrictions on Taiwanese business people who invest in China. Essentially, Ma won the election because people on the island believe he will not pick fights with China just for the sake of it.
That'll suit China just fine. Beijing says it doesn't want fights either. In fact, Chinese premier Wen Jia Bao said this month that direct flights, business co-operation … everything is on the table. Then Wen delivered the same old catch: anything is achievable, so long as Taiwan recognizes there is one China.
And, politically, what is achievable (through Beijing's eyes) should be easier to attain because Ma's party dominates the legislature and he won't be able to stall with the excuse that things are stuck because of legislative blockades.
Blood relations
Yet underlying Ma's electoral success is an interesting divide. Many KMT supporters believe Taiwan should, some day, become one again with China. The view is that eventually China will become a democracy, and some sort of arrangement à la Hong Kong will become less unpalatable than it is now.
Many KMT officials often go to Beijing where they are banqueted and feted as great compatriots. Hard to believe that a couple generations ago, the KMT's recent ancestors (Chang Kai Shek's followers) and the Chinese Communists were slaughtering each other.
Apart from financial and investment interests, what maintains this pragmatic friendship is a common bond because they come from the same place. They're blood relations. They're Chinese.
Times shift, priorities don't
Twenty years ago if you'd gone down a Taipei street and asked somebody: "Do you think of yourself as Chinese or Taiwanese?" the answer would have swung to the mainland. Not anymore. There's been a big mental shift — apparently and importantly — among this generation of Taiwan's youth. What does President Ma do with the sense of "Taiwanese-ness" when the other side insists on recognition of one China as its bottom line for any negotiations?
One of the first things the president says he wants to do is negotiate a peace treaty. (Technically both sides are still at war since the Kuomintang fled to Taiwan.) Ma's bottom line: Beijing has to get rid of the 1,000 or so missiles it has aimed at Taiwan.
"Fine," says Beijing. "As soon as you recognize there's one China… everything is on the table."
In choosing a leader who was born in Hong Kong and educated at Harvard, the Taiwanese have put a worldly and much less abrasive figure in charge of their country.
Much to the relief of Beijing and Washington, the rhetoric of the past eight years may die down a tad. But on the really big issues which frame the surreal limbo of cross-Strait relations, the bottom lines haven't changed.
This was perhaps best illustrated when — the day after winning — Ma described himself as a strong anti-communist who would gladly invite the Dalai Lama to come to Taiwan for a visit. Interesting style for the guy who's going to improve relations with China.
By winning the presidency with almost 60 per cent of the vote, Ma has cemented Nationalist Party (also known as Kuomintang, KMT for short) control on the levers of power, because in January they eviscerated the Democratic Progressive Party, taking three quarters of the seats.
Oh sure, right now everything looks great. The Taiwan stock market showed signs of the island's old moneymaking abilities when it soared on the first opening day after Ma's victory. And even China's state media alluded to an improvement in relations across the Taiwan Strait as a result.
Everything was all warm and glowing when Ma campaigned on opening the door to more Chinese tourists, and on lifting restrictions on Taiwanese business people who invest in China. Essentially, Ma won the election because people on the island believe he will not pick fights with China just for the sake of it.
That'll suit China just fine. Beijing says it doesn't want fights either. In fact, Chinese premier Wen Jia Bao said this month that direct flights, business co-operation … everything is on the table. Then Wen delivered the same old catch: anything is achievable, so long as Taiwan recognizes there is one China.
And, politically, what is achievable (through Beijing's eyes) should be easier to attain because Ma's party dominates the legislature and he won't be able to stall with the excuse that things are stuck because of legislative blockades.
Blood relations
Yet underlying Ma's electoral success is an interesting divide. Many KMT supporters believe Taiwan should, some day, become one again with China. The view is that eventually China will become a democracy, and some sort of arrangement à la Hong Kong will become less unpalatable than it is now.
Many KMT officials often go to Beijing where they are banqueted and feted as great compatriots. Hard to believe that a couple generations ago, the KMT's recent ancestors (Chang Kai Shek's followers) and the Chinese Communists were slaughtering each other.
Apart from financial and investment interests, what maintains this pragmatic friendship is a common bond because they come from the same place. They're blood relations. They're Chinese.
Times shift, priorities don't
Twenty years ago if you'd gone down a Taipei street and asked somebody: "Do you think of yourself as Chinese or Taiwanese?" the answer would have swung to the mainland. Not anymore. There's been a big mental shift — apparently and importantly — among this generation of Taiwan's youth. What does President Ma do with the sense of "Taiwanese-ness" when the other side insists on recognition of one China as its bottom line for any negotiations?
One of the first things the president says he wants to do is negotiate a peace treaty. (Technically both sides are still at war since the Kuomintang fled to Taiwan.) Ma's bottom line: Beijing has to get rid of the 1,000 or so missiles it has aimed at Taiwan.
"Fine," says Beijing. "As soon as you recognize there's one China… everything is on the table."
In choosing a leader who was born in Hong Kong and educated at Harvard, the Taiwanese have put a worldly and much less abrasive figure in charge of their country.
Much to the relief of Beijing and Washington, the rhetoric of the past eight years may die down a tad. But on the really big issues which frame the surreal limbo of cross-Strait relations, the bottom lines haven't changed.
(Contributed by CBC
News)