He said he would also facilitate cultural and educational exchanges, such as allowing Chinese students to attend universities in Taiwan.
The "five noes" and the "five dos," according to Ma, could take care of cross-strait relations.
Comparing the two presentations is difficult. Yu focused on Taiwan's potential in describing the path it could take (with help, of course) in moving China toward democracy -- an important objective for the US and other states. He did not intend to raise a wide number of issues in cross-strait or bilateral matters, at least not for the moment.
Continuous attention to Taiwan's internal struggles, however, makes decisions difficult to arrive at. The lack of high-level and open dialogue makes it more difficult still, not only for the ruling party but the opposition as well.
Ma, while covering a range of matters, focused on one broad issue -- cross-strait relations. The first broad grouping of concerns involved problems to be inherited from the Chen administration; the second involved Taiwan-China dialogue itself. Regardless of how the issues play out, a Ma presidency would discover quite quickly that China will be obstructive on no small number of contentious matters.
With regard to US-Taiwan ties, there remains a need to stay abreast of changes in people and issues on both sides that might impact on that relationship.
A bilateral dialogue keeping both sides aware of domestic changes in the pre-election period will be helpful for both sides, as the presidential campaign threatens to muddy the waters considerably. At the same time, the debate on national identity will be intense, and the results very important, not just for the people of Taiwan, but for the US, China and most of East Asia.
Nat Bellocchi is a former chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan and is now a special adviser to the Liberty Times Group. The views expressed in this article are his own.
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