As Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) boarded a naval frigate on June 21 in a show of determination to protect Taiwanese fishermen, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) advocated that Taiwan "risk a battle to force a peace." With such brave leaders, Taiwan surely has nothing to fear.
Wang's actions were unusual, to say the least.
Everyone has his or her designated powers and responsibilities. Teachers teach, firemen put out fires and legislators legislate.
But faced with recent flooding in southern Taiwan, even while the public worked to limit the damage, lawmakers refused to call a special session to debate flood-control policies.
Instead, they staged a political performance piece.
The responsibility for protecting Taiwanese fishermen should fall on the Coast Guard Administration (CGA), while the responsibility for protecting Taiwan's territory should fall on the Ministry of National Defense.
It is odd that the legislative speaker should jump on a naval vessel and dash off to perform tasks which are the responsibility of the ministry and the CGA.
How would it seem if the minister of defense moved in on the responsibilities of the legislative speaker? Our politicians are blurring the distinction between various branches of government.
Ma's combative stance has also confused the public, who were unaware that relations between Japan and Taiwan had deteriorated to the point of military conflict.
The dispute with Japan is about fishing rights and should be handled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, whose first step should be to start negotiations. And as Japan is willing to talk, there is simply no question of forcing them to negotiate.
After all, even with China, which threatens this nation's very existence, we have been content to allow the foreign ministry to oversee unofficial talks to find a solution.
So, with China threatening to extinguish Taiwan's independence, why does Ma not suggest that we "risk a battle to force a peace" with Beijing?
As both Japan and China have superior navies, we should certainly not initiate a conflict, and Ma's combative approach is inappropriate.
The greatest difference between Taiwan's relations with Japan and China is that with the former the dispute is about fishing rights, and the latter about survival.
Since World War II, Japan has never had any conviction that "Taiwan is part of Japan," but China's goal is most certainly to annex Taiwan.
Isn't it odd that we should be so accommodating to people who leave us no space to maneuver, and so belligerent with Japan, with whom there is plenty of room for negotiations?
Because Japan and the US are Taiwan's friends, we should side with them to warn China off. It is only because many people in Taiwan still have "China" in their hearts that they can see this issue only from a "Chinese" perspective.
Chen Mao-hsiung is a professor at National Sun Yat-sen University.
TRANSLATED BY LIN YA-TI
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