During the recent track two conference, Beijing’s grasp of this spirit was obvious, and its stance was clearly expressed.
After the Ma administration finally realized the goal of China’s wish to sign the peace agreement that Ma has pushed for, it was forced to retreat and procrastinate. The national defense report recently published by the Ministry of National Defense said China would use a peace agreement to achieve its political goals, diminish Taiwan’s ability to resist and achieve its ambition to win over Taiwan without a fight.
At the conference, KMT Legislator Shuai Hua-min (帥化民), a retired army lieutenant-general, said: “The two sides of the Taiwan Strait must not rely too much on a piece of paper with a peace agreement or peace mechanism and hope that will solve all the problems.”
As Ma went on the retreat, China attacked and pointed out that the promise of a peace agreement was made in the communique; issued after former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) met in 2005, and that this promise was included in the KMT’s party charter at the time Ma became chairman.
Lien used his attendance at the APEC meeting in Singapore to make some statements helping Beijing by putting pressure on Ma. China also threatened Taiwan by saying that 70 percent of Taiwanese back the signing of a peace agreement and the creation of a mechanism to build mutual military trust.
In 1999, then presidential candidate Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) also suggested such an agreement and such a mechanism in his White Paper on China Policy and in 2004, he said: “The two sides of the Taiwan Strait should end hostilities … and discuss a mechanism for mutual military trust.”
Ma followed Chen’s policies in the last presidential election and the pair managed to mobilize a strong public opinion. Unexpectedly, this public opinion has now become a tool for China in its attempts to put pressure on Ma.
Although pan-blue academics made some limited protests at the recent conference, they were afraid to oppose China outright. Instead, they only stirred up a little technical trouble within Beijing’s strategic framework. In the final communique; after the conference, the two sides were back to offer solemn joint affirmations of the mutual trust mechanism, the peace agreement and the “one China” principle. It was very clear who won, the red team, not the blue team.
Although the conclusions of this conference are not legally binding, these meetings are harbingers of semi-governmental talks, and that is why the outcome is so worrying.
Lin Cho-shui is a former Democratic Progressive Party legislator.
TRANSLATED BY EDDY CHANG AND PERRY SVENSSON
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