Print

Mail

wiki links

Editorial: Beware of poisoned offerings

Beijing has stepped up its "united front" against Taiwan by widening the scope of its offensive to include not only China-based Taiwanese businesspeople and senior politicians but farmers, students and low-level party members as well. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government, sadly, appears to be at its wits' end about how to cope with the problem. In its efforts to avoid whipping up the recent wave of "China fever," it has done little more than chant slogans and talk about "staying cool."

While China's united-front tactics against Taiwan are not new, the broadening of its scope to an across-the-board offensive against the Taiwanese public is a marked change. Previously Beijing ran a "top-down" campaign, targeting prominent individuals as a way of influencing Taiwanese society. Its new "bottom-up" method targets people who may not be high-ranking in terms of social status, but who have enough clout to affect society as a whole, such as farmers.

Taiwan's farmers, many of whom are considered DPP supporters, were clearly the target of the Chinese government's announcement in July that it would offer tariff-free treatment to certain Taiwanese fruit exports. The offer was a deliberate attempt to create friction between DPP grassroots supporters and the government.

Beijing's next target was Taiwanese high-school and college-age students. China's Ministry of Finance announced last week that starting this fall, Taiwanese university students will pay the same tuition as their Chinese counterparts. Beijing is also offering 7.2 million yuan (US$864,000) in scholarships to 20 percent of the Taiwanese students studying in China.

The scholarships won't cost the Chinese leadership very much, and they offer a huge return on the investment -- the chance to brainwash young Taiwanese to become a "pure Chinese" and plant a new generation of pro-China seedlings who can continue to be cultivated after they return home. China doesn't much care if its motives are obvious. It has even said that "its recruitment of Taiwanese students to study in China is a part of the mother country's unification agenda."

It seems that the Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) administration -- trying to avoid aggravating the huge rift between pan-green and pan-blue supporters stemming from last year's presidential election -- has developed a severe case of political scruples when it comes to cross-strait issues. The way it handled -- or didn't handle -- the China trips by former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) is a prime example. The government and its leaders dithered and dallied and finally ended up issuing a few mealymouthed statements, instead of roundly condemning comments made in China by both men that were clearly treasonous.

Beijing, of course, has taken advantage of the DPP's wishywashiness to escalate its offensive. Its tactics are cleverly calculated and substantial. Taipei, bogged down by inertia, seems barely able to raise its head and then only to mutter a few more slogans or engage in a half-hearted war of words with the pan-blue opposition.

As the saying goes, "to be too lenient is to breed evil." The government's ineptitude simply encourages China to even bolder measures, aided and abetted by the opposition politicians here. Even if the government is incapable of exerting itself, however, the people of Taiwan should take it upon themselves to be on guard against Beijing's poisoned apples. Their future depends on it.
This story has been viewed 2048 times.