Last week, Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), in his capacity as the president of the Republic of China (ROC), traveled to Honduras — stopping on the way in the US — to attend the inauguration of President Porfirio Lobo Sosa. At the same time, however, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) were holding talks on signing an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) that defines Taiwan merely as an “area.”
This meant that while Ma was traveling abroad as the president of the ROC, he was in fact the head of the “Taiwan area.” The Ma administration only plays up the name “ROC” for the benefit of the domestic audience; when faced with China, it is willing to belittle Taiwan. This two-faced approach may help the Ma administration deceive itself, but it has ceased to deceive the Taiwanese.
Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Liu Te-shun (劉德勳) recently said that when the Act Governing Relations Between Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) was promulgated in 1992, the two areas were defined as the “Taiwan area” and the “mainland area” — meaning this is a legally regulated definition and not just something concocted by the Ma administration.
Liu added that this act is what that makes an ECFA with China possible. Liu thus proved that he has a good understanding of what his superiors are thinking.
The Ma administration’s definition of Taiwan as the “Taiwan area” pleased Beijing greatly, and the news received widespread praise in official Chinese media.
The Ma government may think it is being clever for finding a legal basis to support Taiwan’s demotion into a region, but all it has done is to let the public see the deception the administration is employing to “regionalize” Taiwan.
Let’s take a look back at 1992. The conservative forces in the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) were in power, the presidency had yet to be directly elected by the people and Taiwanese did not run their own country.
This is the backdrop to the promulgation of the Act Governing Relations Between the Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area, so it is both ridiculous and an act of desperation on the part of the Ma administration to use this Act to legitimize what it sees as the basis for turning Taiwan into an “area.”
Taiwan has held direct presidential elections since 1996 and abolished the concept of a “Taiwan Province.” These democratic reforms have all but dispelled the empty illusions about the Constitution and undermined the Act.
Since the promulgation of the Act, Taiwan has evolved into a nation, with sovereignty resting in its 23 million people. In 1999, then-president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) declared that “special state-to-state relations” exist between Taiwan and China. In 2000, then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) took things a step further by declaring that Taiwan and China were “one country on each side [of the Taiwan Strait].” Taiwan’s national status is clear, politically legitimate and desired by most Taiwanese.
Unfortunately, since his election as president in 2008, Ma has sought to eradicate Taiwan’s democratic reforms and steps to become a normal country, while ignoring mainstream public opinion and dashing toward eventual unification. Driven by his “greater China” ideology, Ma has reduced Taiwan to an “area,” while fantasizing about China as the “mainland area.”
China appreciates Ma’s efforts to relegate Taiwan’s status to that of an area because that automatically negates Taiwan’s sovereignty as a nation. However, the Chinese Communist Party politely rejected Ma’s definition of China as the “mainland area,” insisting that it is the only legitimate government of China.
In other words, while Ma is happy to demote himself to the position of regional head of Taiwan, Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) is not willing to follow suit.
The government’s fawning over China and belittlement of Taiwan facilitate ECFA talks. The Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) between Hong Kong and the Chinese government is an agreement between a regional government and the central government under the “one country, two systems” model.
The Ma administration wants to demote Taiwan to an “area” so that it can use the same model to sign an ECFA between the local Taiwanese government and the central Chinese government.
Ma’s comment that the ECFA does not involve sovereignty is a load of nonsense. Faced with public doubts about signing an ECFA, the Ma government could only quote the Act to deceive the public. The government clearly thinks the public is a bunch of idiots.
The two China parties, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party, are trying to use economic agreements to pull the wool over the public’s eyes and stealthily turn Taiwan into a part of China.
The public cannot afford to wait helplessly for the worst and must not place any hope in the “peace dividends” that are supposed to result from cross-strait detente. They can no longer trust Ma’s promise that Taiwan’s future will be decided by its 23 million citizens — free of Chinese interference.
Since assuming office, Ma has joined hands with Beijing to demote Taiwan to a Chinese region. An ECFA will further tie up Taiwan’s economy with the Chinese common market and allow Taiwanese sovereignty to disappear into his vision of “one China.”
Taiwan, a democracy, cannot stand by and watch Ma do as he pleases. We, the masters of the nation, demand that the ECFA, which places Taiwan’s sovereignty at risk, be decided in a referendum. The voice of the people is what should count.
TRANSLATED BY DREW CAMERON
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