PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) said recently if President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) acknowledged the "one China" principle and opened up direct links, he and PFP Vice Chairman Chang Chiao-hsiung (張昭雄) would not run in the 2004 presidential election.
Soong's words were, of course, insincere. But he highlighted two themes -- the presidential election and the direct links -- as the focal points of the battle between the pan-blue and the pan-green camps.
The pan-blue continues to hold a legislative majority, enjoying an upper hand in the legislature. So, if members of the pan-blue can work together, they do have a shot at winning.
Currently, the campaign strategy of the pan-blues is to seek victory in both the Taipei and Kaohsiung mayoral elections, seeking control of both these cities. With KMT's Jason Hu (
Another strategy is to paralyze Chen's constitutionally vested powers by boycotting any bills related to constitutional and political reforms. Even since the change of ruling party, both KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
Reform efforts the DPP has been forced to abort include a constitutional amendment to require that the president be a native-born Taiwanese; a bill to recover the ill-gotten assets of the KMT and Soong's over-due taxes; an attempt to make Taiwanese the second official language of the country; and a proposal to legislate a public referendum law.
Just about the only thing Chen is "graciously" allowed to do is to revive economic development and reduce the unemployment rate.
In addition to handicapping both Chen and the ruling party, Lien and Soong echo Chinese Vice Premier Qian Qichen's (錢其琛) words in saying that direct links are purely an economic issue and that Taiwan can only rely on direct links to recover from its economic depression.
This is a stark contrast from the past KMT stance that direct links are a political issue as well as national security issue. Taiwan has invested US$150 billion in China already, contributing to its own economic decline.
At a time when the entire world economy is in recession, when the US economy has not yet fully recovered from the devastations of terrorist attacks, things are especially difficult for Taiwan; especially since the economies of the global village are now all deeply linked one way or the other.
It is unlikely that the two opposition party leaders do not understand all these problems; yet they continue to concoct more problems for the president.
In the past two years, Taiwan has become a full-fledged member of the WTO. The US-Taiwan bilateral relationship is in better shape than it has been in decades. The European Parliament has repeatedly shown genuine concern and support for peace in the Taiwan Strait. Countries in Southeast Asia also have close business ties with Taiwan.
Despite such outstanding accomplishments, the pan-blue camp continues its efforts to decapitate the president's powers and turns a blind eye to the fact that he is the elected president.
The president's talk about the existence of "one country on either side [of the Taiwan Strait]," referring to the PRC and Taiwan, has been accepted by the mainstream popular will.
In time like this, the KMT and DPP should give the president a thumbs up and some encouragement. Instead, they do all they can to elbow and trip the president up. Their plot to serve as the propaganda machine and mouthpiece of China is clear.
The pan-blue camp demands an opening up of direct links. But China is clearly defining cross-strait trade as a domestic affair. The Chinese proposals for direct links clearly reflect an underlying attitude that Taiwan is part of the "one country, two systems" framework.
In short, China is using unification propaganda to demean Taiwan's national sovereignty and seek the collapse of Taiwan's political system. It is trying to turn Taiwan into a colonial society in which rights are not respected and no autonomy is allowed.
If China gets its wish, the PFP and the KMT would no longer be able to pursue the presidency, so why echo the Chinese line?
If either Lien or Soong is elected president in 2004, do they want to be called "the executive chief" of the "Taiwan Special Administrative Region?"
Direct links are obviously a major political question. They are a political issues and have implications for national security and sovereignty. If the people of Taiwan concede that the links are domestic links, that would mean Taiwan is part of the PRC.
Chen's declaration that the cross-strait relationship is a relationship between two countries on either side of the Strait is consistent with the KMT regime's declaration about the existence of a special state-to-state relationship between Taiwan and PRC.
But since the transfer of power, the KMT cannot cope with the DPP regime and therefore prefers to work with China, rather than to concede defeat to the DPP.
During the KMT era, former premier Hao Po-tsun (郝柏村) called on the ruling and opposition camps to cease bickering over the independence-unification issue and to refrain from constitutional and political reforms, in order to focus on economic developments of the country.
Now Lien and Vice Speaker of the Legislative Yuan Chiang Ping-kun (
Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), has indicated that "the chances for opening up direct links are greater once the issue is de-politicized."
Such statements reflect an attempt -- not to revive the economy or ensure Taiwan's security -- but to destroy the independent sovereignty of Taiwan and counter Chen's "one country on either side" declaration.
The direct links have become core to the campaign strategy of the KMT and the PFP for the 2004 presidential election.
To "de-politicized" direct links is the equivalent of conceding that Taiwan is part of China. It would mean that the government is succumbing to the business interests' China fever and selling out Taiwan by accepting "one country, two systems." It will once again create chaos in Taiwan.
The opening up of direct links is an important political and economic issue. A less than cautious handling of the matter will only result in the Chinese market becoming more attractive, causing Taiwan to suffer from additional economic hemorrhaging and creating more social and political unrest. Carelessly giving in on the direct links issue will only turn the DPP, KMT and PFP into sinners who sold out the interests and future of Taiwan.
The right thing to do is to negotiate for direct links based on equal and corresponding state sovereignties across the Strait.
The Taiwan government must exercise utmost caution in examining the feasibility of opening up the links. The assessment should focus on economic, political and national security concerns.
From the economic perspective, Taiwan should look at Hong Kong, Korea and Japan which have long had direct links to China.
Taiwan needs to ask, "Are these links profitable?" "What was the negotiation process for these links?" "What were the end results of such negotiations?"
Under the principle of "active opening, effective management," Taiwan must assess the potential threats and harm to itself.
From the standpoint of national security, the government must consider what are the needed supplemental measures for operating these direct links? Through negotiations and the signing of formal agreements in which clear rules and regulations are provided, efforts must be made to avoid clashes.
Only in this way can Taiwan's normal political and constitutional developments be safeguarded, its economy revived and relationship with China normalized.
This way, the international integrity of Taiwan will be respected and the political parties supported by the people.
Lee Chang-kuei is the president of the Taipei Times and a professor emeritus of the National Taiwan University.
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