China tries to court Ma Ying-jeou: Part two

When senior Hong Kong officials received invitations from pro-Taiwan groups to a banquet to welcome Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), they all declined, citing other commitments. But on the Friday, upon learning that Ma would receive a grand reception, they changed their minds and decided to attend.

A source from China said that after Ma's visit exchanges between Hong Kong and Taipei would further strengthen. Hong Kong is currently considering establishing an office in Taiwan. Taiwan would naturally be happy to see it do so. But Beijing is still studying two matters of principle.

The first question is the name issue. Will this office be called the "Taiwan office" or the "Taipei office" and how will the nature of its responsibilities be demarcated?

Hong Kong has representative offices in New York, Tokyo, London and Beijing. They are similar in nature to foreign consulates. Any office established in Taiwan would certainly be of a different nature than those four. If the office's responsibilities are limited to affairs related to city-to-city exchanges, will it liaise with Taiwan's central government agencies such as the Mainland Affairs Council (陸委會)?

Second, would the establishment of an office be equivalent to a back-handed acknowledgement that the Taiwan and Beijing governments are equal? Beijing reckons that if Hong Kong establishes an office in Taiwan, then Taiwan will demand the right of reciprocity. The source said that Hong Kong would not rashly establish an office in Taiwan before a final verdict is reached on these two issues.

Beijing is also extremely wary of Ma. When he met Tung Chi-hwa (董建華) and invited him to visit Taiwan, the Hong Kong leader spoke ambiguously and gave no unequivocal answer. The source said a trip by Tung also involved principles like those listed above. Beijing wants to study this question further, but in principle it has already agreed that bureau-level officials of the SAR government can visit Taiwan.

Of course Beijing isn't completely without doubts about Ma. He was born in Hong Kong in 1950. When he was one, his family moved to Taiwan. Forty-six years later, in January 1997, Ma revisited his birthplace and also obtained a copy of his birth certificate. According to Hong Kong law, Ma is eligible to receive a citizen's permanent identity card and settle in Hong Kong.

At the time, Beijing was very nervous, fearing that Ma was getting up to tricks. Quite a few Hong Kong politicians commented that Ma would certainly win any Hong Kong election he participated in by a large margin. Ma also has strong anti-communist tendencies and sympathy for China's democracy movement. Furthermore, he has close connections with Hong Kong's democratic factions and anti-communist figures. Although the tone of his speech in Hong Kong was relaxed and eager to please, he was careful not to step out of bounds and abided by the principles of the ROC government. He stated that Taiwan does not accept "one country, two systems" and cleverly sang the ROC's national anthem at a cocktail party.

An official in Beijing's Office for Taiwan Affairs commented privately that he had observed Ma in Hong Kong and felt that his political wisdom and understanding of democracy were very impressive. Beijing's investments in trying to woo him may very well yield nothing. The "Ma Ying-jeou whirlwind" created by his recent visit will certainly benefit him, but will not necessarily benefit Beijing. Hong Kong's political commentators believe Beijing's united-front thinking has already fallen far behind Taiwan's progress in democratic politics.