Last week, Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (
Complicating the matter further, Beijing's Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Zhang Mingqing (
It seems completely outrageous for the office to demand that Hsieh accept the "one China" principle when both the purpose of the trip and the capacity in which Hsieh planned to go -- as Kaohsiung mayor -- had nothing to do with nationhood. If China keeps up its creative efforts in tying its "one China" principle with unrelated things (the Taiwan-Hong Kong air agreement is something to watch here), Taiwanese businessmen may soon have to vow their acceptance of the "one China" principle before they can do business in China.
The incident reveals several important points. First, President Chen Shui-bian's (
As for Zhang's comment that as long as the DPP accepts the "one China" principle cross-strait talks can resume, it is simply ridiculous. China's unreasonable demand is no different from a bandit holding a knife against his victim's neck and demanding that he first kill himself, "then we can talk about whether to spare you."
This most recent incident should also serve as a slap in the face to all those politicians who have gloated and boasted about the welcome they received in China. Little do they know the reason they were so "well received" is because Beijing considered them to have either already sold out or had the potential of selling out Taiwan's interests by embracing the "one China" principle. They were each captured and tagged by Beijing as role-model politicians from the "renegade province" of Taiwan as they shook hands and chatted with high-ranking Beijing officials on TV. They were no different from someone walking down the hall without realizing that a note reading "jackass" has been stuck to their back.
Or perhaps they willingly cooperated with the Chinese. This may explain why Taipei Mayor Ma Yin-jeou (
In response to this unjust treatment of its chairman, the DPP has declared that in the future DPP party officials traveling to China must do so in their official party capacity, rather than as a private citizen. This is certainly one way for Taiwanese politicians to demand integrity during their visits to China. Go if you must, but neither insult nor compromise Taiwan's integrity in the process.
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