It’s an irony for Chinese negotiators who took part in the second round of economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) negotiations in Taoyuan County yesterday to say from a resort in Dasi that they remain open-minded about the trade pact and would do whatever they can to minimize any potential negative impact on the local economy.
Dasi is home to dictator Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) mausoleum, which to this day remains off-limits to Chinese tour groups, despite its popularity and the fact that tourism authorities in Beijing have never formally restricted the visits.
If you talk in private to Taiwanese travel agencies that arrange local trips for Chinese tourists, they will confirm that it is an unwritten rule that no travel agency will put anything related to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) old-time rival on the tour groups’ itineraries.
Only individual tourists who come from a third country and are not escorted by Chinese tour guides can visit the mausoleum.
That shows China isn’t as open-minded and democratic as it would like to imply.
Although refusing to pay tribute to a former dictator might be construed as honorable under other circumstances, it is no less than a joke for the CCP, which is just as authoritarian as Chiang’s regime was, to have such a ban — a clear case of the pot calling the kettle black.
Taiwanese tour operators will also tell you that Beijing authorities prohibit their outbound tourists from speaking freely to the media unless their comments are pre-approved.
This is just one small example of how China says one thing, but means another. Nobody should be surprised when Chinese officials hide their true colors.
This holds especially true when one considers the comments made yesterday by Tang Wei (唐煒), director of the Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Department under China’s Ministry of Commerce, who chaired the first round of talks on Jan. 26 in Beijing and co-chaired yesterday’s round of talks in Dasi.
Tang, in his opening address, heaped praise on the ECFA, saying that Chinese leaders aim to facilitate such a “good thing.”
Then he admitted that the trade pact would not be a panacea that will boost the local economy, although he said it was not a “horrifying monster” that will destroy Taiwan’s economy. In the afternoon, he admitted that “it is too difficult to tend to every aspect of the deal as the clock is ticking.”
Without going into details, what Tang said raised nothing but more doubts about the deal.
Is an ECFA a good thing or not? Good for whom?
Why are both sides in such a hurry to ink the deal when they say the deal is neither sweet nor bitter? Why not spend more time and tend to every detail of the deal before signing it, which would be in the interest of both sides?
No answers, of course, will be offered to these questions for the time being.
But let’s hope the upcoming debate or “dialogue” between President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) will shed some light on the matter.
When US budget carrier Southwest Airlines last week announced a new partnership with China Airlines, Southwest’s social media were filled with comments from travelers excited by the new opportunity to visit China. Of course, China Airlines is not based in China, but in Taiwan, and the new partnership connects Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport with 30 cities across the US. At a time when China is increasing efforts on all fronts to falsely label Taiwan as “China” in all arenas, Taiwan does itself no favors by having its flagship carrier named China Airlines. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is eager to jump at
The muting of the line “I’m from Taiwan” (我台灣來欸), sung in Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese), during a performance at the closing ceremony of the World Masters Games in New Taipei City on May 31 has sparked a public outcry. The lyric from the well-known song All Eyes on Me (世界都看見) — originally written and performed by Taiwanese hip-hop group Nine One One (玖壹壹) — was muted twice, while the subtitles on the screen showed an alternate line, “we come here together” (阮作伙來欸), which was not sung. The song, performed at the ceremony by a cheerleading group, was the theme
Secretary of State Marco Rubio raised eyebrows recently when he declared the era of American unipolarity over. He described America’s unrivaled dominance of the international system as an anomaly that was created by the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War. Now, he observed, the United States was returning to a more multipolar world where there are great powers in different parts of the planet. He pointed to China and Russia, as well as “rogue states like Iran and North Korea” as examples of countries the United States must contend with. This all begs the question:
Liberals have wasted no time in pointing to Karol Nawrocki’s lack of qualifications for his new job as president of Poland. He has never previously held political office. He won by the narrowest of margins, with 50.9 percent of the vote. However, Nawrocki possesses the one qualification that many national populists value above all other: a taste for physical strength laced with violence. Nawrocki is a former boxer who still likes to go a few rounds. He is also such an enthusiastic soccer supporter that he reportedly got the logos of his two favorite teams — Chelsea and Lechia Gdansk —
RSS