Obviously, the Chinese government is pursuing deregulation unilaterally. It is appealing directly to the economic interests of the Taiwanese people, and is using the cooperation of opposition parties as leverage to squeeze concessions from the Taiwanese government on the "one-China" principle.
Faced with the increased resources China is allocating to its Taiwan policy and the policy's increasingly clear targets, the Taiwanese government will only be able to change its currently disadvantageous position in the cross-strait political conflict by taking an active approach.
Rather than losing public trust by trying to adapt or changing policies after the fact as a result of public pressure, the government should be proactive and stress that it is willing to entrust civil organizations with the task of negotiating with China, thereby taking an active role in safeguarding and expanding the interests of Taiwanese in China.
Cross-strait issues such as direct links, deregulation of the service industry, a framework for interaction and the establishment of a cross-strait governance mechanism can only be agreed on following negotiations between the two sides.
These issues are not easily manipulated by China. Only by following the trend of deregulation of cross-strait economic exchanges will Taiwan's government be able to allay public doubt and relieve the pressure on it to make political concessions to China.
Tung Chen-yuan is an assistant professor in the Sun Yat-sen Graduate Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities at National Chengchi University. Translated by Lin Ya-ti
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