President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has been in office for a year, and if he continues with his current policy direction he will be recorded in history books as the president who ensured that Taiwan became a part of China.
The EU is relieved after actively working to help bring this about. The enthusiasm among Taiwanese is limited, however, as President Ma was elected on positive Taiwanese identity policies and pledges on the economy, all of which have been broken, and he has lost credibility in opinion polls, which have hit record lows.
Taiwan was previously hailed as the miracle economy of Asia after changing from a dictatorship to a democracy. This transformation came about because of pressure from ordinary Taiwanese.
But after the first change of government in 2000, when Taiwanese showed that they wanted greater autonomy and displayed a willingness to hold dialogue, the doors to the world community were locked and Taiwan was labeled a troublemaker in its relationship with China. China’s thousands of missiles and its legislation authorizing a military attack against Taiwan were never held to account.
We live in an era of key developments in the Taiwan Strait and there are two main issues to consider: Taiwan’s president wants to make Taiwan Chinese and reverse the development of an independent Taiwanese identity while establishing a form of free trade agreement.
The policy of creating an image of Taiwan belonging to China is evident on several fronts.
After his election, Ma took a dogmatic stance on the Constitution and advocated that Taiwan and China belong to the same China. Reflecting his legal background, Ma interprets the world through the text of that document and not as it really exists.
In his view, Ma is president of both China and Taiwan, which he has said several times, and he refers to relations between China and Taiwan as those between “two areas.” This is a significant shift from the two-state solution held by preceding Taiwanese presidents.
Historically, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has sought to reclaim China, and seen in this light his policies make sense only if you naively believe that political ties across the Taiwan Strait can change China from the inside and turn it into a part of the Republic of China.
To emphasize that Taiwan belongs to China, Taiwanese are now being presented with a different version of the nation’s history. The official history of Taiwan now starts with the birth of the Republic of China — in China. This is despite the fact that in 1912 Taiwan was not part of China but a Japanese colony. The previous government had started this narrative by making reference to the population that existed in Taiwan before 1912.
Further, “China” must be put into the public’s mind every day. When Taiwanese send letters and packages they have to visit the postal service that is once again called Chunghwa Post (China Post) and not Taiwan Post. Dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) is celebrated again with military guards before his huge statue in Taipei.
The government also wants to interfere with the Taiwan Human Rights Memorial near Jingmei (景美) that documents the political history of Taiwan — from the KMT’s takeover to democratization during the 1980s. The memorial is a former court and prison for political prisoners; historical displays of Taiwanese dissatisfaction with the regime are set to be diluted.
RSS