When the Legislative Yuan went into summer recess, many legislators had plans to visit China. They all have their own reasons for doing so, but if they can place Taiwan first, maintain the dignity appropriate to legislators from a sovereign state and exchange views in a straightforward manner without becoming a propaganda tool for China and its unification efforts, their visits would still amount to a positive development for cross-strait stability.
It is worrying, however, that legislators are careless with their language in their political pursuits in Taiwan and that they are not very well read on the issues of the day. They are more used to thinking up quick-witted ripostes, sometimes so much so that they don't even know what they are saying. Steeped as they are in this kind of behavior and then attempt-ing to deal with China's monolithic authorities, who always respond to Taiwan's ever-changing phraseology by demanding observance of the same fundamental principle, the legislators could well end up being shortchanged without even knowing it.
Here are a few suggestions -- that I think many voters would support -- for the travelers to take with them.
First, they should be clear about their status and not forget who they are. A legislator is first and foremost a ROC citizen and secondly a legislator. Without the authorization of the government, a legislative delegate or delegation does not represent the ROC, nor Taiwan. Without the authorization of the Legislative Yuan, a delegate or delegation does not represent the legislature. At most, they can say that they represent the voters of their constituency, and that the legislators are accountable to them.
Even if the delegation consists of legislators from several parties, they cannot say that they represent the legislature or all parties. But even if they only represent the voters of their constituency, their status is still that of a lawmaker of a sovereign nation. Their status is not that of a member of a legislature in a special administrative region of China, such as Hong Kong's Legislative Council.
Second, only by maintaining their self-respect can they preserve Taiwan's dignity. Unless they say bluntly to Chinese officials, "Yours is a fake government and you are fake officials" and "China is part of the ROC" or denigrate themselves to the status of a member of "Taiwan's Legislative Council," they must give priority to the interests and dignity of the ROC. They cannot accept arrangements for a less-than-equal position, and they must express their opinions and renounce statements harmful to the interests of the ROC. Apart from a small minority of people wishing for these visitors to become members of a "Taiwan Legislative Council," a majority of Taiwan voters expects them to display the integrity and dignity of a legislator from a sovereign nation.
Third, these legislators must be alert, see a variety of places and hear a variety of opinions, and not be seduced by superficial and partial prosperity or unrealistic statements. Visitors from Tai-wan and other countries to Bei-jing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and other coastal "treaty ports," stay in modern hotels, travel in limou-sines, socialize with wealthy businesspeople or powerful cadres and visit brand new high-rises. They are often completely taken in by China's state of "advancement and development."
But visitors must not forget that neither Shanghai nor Beijing, much less Shenzhen, is all there is to China. Legislators should not see only the "treaty ports," but also other features of China's overall economy -- the interior, agricultural China and the collapse of state-owned enterprises in the northeast. Nor should they listen only to China's official dogma and propaganda. They must also hear the opinions of local people and the analysis of objective researchers.
In Taiwan's authoritarian past, officials, media and lawmakers always reported bad news about China and ignored the good, while at the same time glossing over bad news about Taiwan. Now that we have experienced a transfer of political power, the vested inter-ests of the authoritarian era are behaving in diametric opposition to their past behavior -- they report good, but not bad, news about China, and bad, but not good, news about Taiwan. Both types of behavior are perverse, since they are both biased.
Because China's labor is cheap, its potential markets are large and large sums of foreign investment keep pouring in. Bei-jing's opening and reforms have indeed created the impression of booming prosperity in the coastal "treaty ports." If China were nothing more than Shanghai, Beijing and the Zhuhai region, then China's economic problems would of course be quickly resolved and living standards would in one fell swoop catch up with countries at an intermediate stage of development.
But China's population is 1.3 billion, or 565 times the population of Taiwan. According to official estimates, China has to create 17 million jobs each year just to keep unemployment levels from rising further. That is almost as many jobs as there are people in Taiwan outside of Taipei.
As if this were not enough, China's statistics have never been very reliable and are often adjusted for political reasons. The official figure for unemployment is only 3.6 percent. That is even lower than the standard rate at which Western countries consider themselves to have achieved full employment. In fact, the Development Research Center (DRC) of the State Council estimates urban unemployment in China to lie somewhere between 8 and 9 percent, and that unemployment in the outdated industrial areas in the northeast may be as high as 20 percent. Time magazine reports that there are about 19 million unemployed in China, but that there may be tens of millions more that have not made it into Ministry of Labor statistics.
Now that China has joined the WTO, its agricultural products are being exposed to international competition. There are wide dis-parities between rural and urban populations, and agricultural labor inevitably flows into the cities and competes for jobs with unemployed urban workers. The DRC estimates that 150 million rural workers will migrate to the cities. This is more than the total work force of the US.
The wide gap in income and living standards, the complete dearth of solutions to the unemployment and population migration problems, and the lack of guaranteed social welfare are more than just economic issues -- they could even fuel a revolution.
Legislators must not look only at superficial prosperity and listen to unreliable figures without being alert to the latent crisis in the overall economic and political situation. Taiwanese businessmen may see the endless supply of labor and conclude that salaries can be slashed ad infinitum since there will always be people fighting for work. Such exploitation, however, would sooner or later lead to an awakening and a build-up of resentment among workers, adding another dangerous element to the crisis in the overall economy.
During their trips the legislators should also visit Taiwanese businesspeople in China to gain an understanding of their operations, and should also listen to the opinions of local workers and cadres. Businesspeople's desire for direct cross-strait links on the grounds of specific interests or political considerations may also arise. The legislators must ensure that they fully understand the facts and establish from the businessmen how much of their business really requires direct transportation, and how deeply their business is affected without it. The lack of concrete figures and the shouting of empty political slogans do not help one's cause in discussions of policy matters.
Strictly speaking, Taiwan's government does not encourage investments in China. Rather, they result from companies' needs for cheap Chinese labor. Even though there are concerns that companies exploit their workers, they also create job opportunities that China urgently needs. Common sense dictates that Taiwanese business-people should therefore have the right to demand that China's government guarantee their operations, but not the right to turn to Taipei to request that Taiwan abandon her sovereignty in order to improve their position in China.
The legislators must demonstrate at least that much common sense and ensure that they don't just put on a show that is misleading both for Taiwan and for China.
James Wang is a Washington-based journalist.
Translated by Perry Svensson
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