In recent days, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has had another fight with The Associated Press (AP) over whether he will enter into political talks with China if he is re-elected in 2012. Ma remains adamant that he never made any statement to the effect that he was planning such a move if re-elected and he insisted that it was all a misunderstanding by the AP reporter. Ma even demanded that AP offer an apology. However, regardless of whether AP eventually folds under mounting political pressure, the press release issued by the Presidential Office shows that the AP’s conclusion is based on fact.
The transcript of the interview released by the Presidential Office makes it clear that Ma first told the AP reporter that the question of whether he would engage in political dialogue with China if he were re-elected would be dependent on how the situation develops at that time. When the AP reporter continued with a follow-up question and asked whether political dialogue would take place once the economic issues were resolved, Ma once again said that it would depend on how the situation was developing at that time.
If we take a closer look at these answers, it is clear that Ma never gave an unambiguous “no” in response to the AP’s questions. In international diplomacy, a failure to offer a clear denial frequently implies tacit approval. In addition, the Ma administration is pushing for “mutual non-denial” as a way of dealing with cross-strait relations. It is therefore no wonder the AP came to the conclusion that Ma would not discount the possibility of engaging in political dialogue with China if he is re-elected in 2012.
More importantly, on May 8 last year during an interview with a reporter from Singapore’s The Straits Times, Ma said that he would not discount the possibility of talking about political issues with China if he were to win a second term in office in 2012. During another interview three days later, this time with the Taiwanese TV station China Television Co (CTV), he further explained how he would not discount the possibility of negotiating peace agreements with China if he were re-elected. So from this, we can see that the conclusions reached by the AP’s reporter are exactly the same as what Ma advocates.
Given this situation, the real problem is not whether Ma should be using an English interpreter during his interviews with international media. The real problem lies instead in the policies Ma promotes and how these policies have caused the international community to think that there is a possibility that political talks with China would be opened if Ma is given a second term in office.
Instead of continuously trying to cover up his real views on the issue of political talks with China, Ma should be open and honest about them. Considering that this is something Ma has said on repeated occasions in the past, blaming the AP reporter’s English is not the way he should go about handling this issue.
Lai I-chung is an executive committee member of the Taiwan Thinktank.
TRANSLATED BY DREW CAMERON
George Santayana wrote: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” This article will help readers avoid repeating mistakes by examining four examples from the civil war between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) forces and the Republic of China (ROC) forces that involved two city sieges and two island invasions. The city sieges compared are Changchun (May to October 1948) and Beiping (November 1948 to January 1949, renamed Beijing after its capture), and attempts to invade Kinmen (October 1949) and Hainan (April 1950). Comparing and contrasting these examples, we can learn how Taiwan may prevent a war with
A recent trio of opinion articles in this newspaper reflects the growing anxiety surrounding Washington’s reported request for Taiwan to shift up to 50 percent of its semiconductor production abroad — a process likely to take 10 years, even under the most serious and coordinated effort. Simon H. Tang (湯先鈍) issued a sharp warning (“US trade threatens silicon shield,” Oct. 4, page 8), calling the move a threat to Taiwan’s “silicon shield,” which he argues deters aggression by making Taiwan indispensable. On the same day, Hsiao Hsi-huei (蕭錫惠) (“Responding to US semiconductor policy shift,” Oct. 4, page 8) focused on
Taiwan is rapidly accelerating toward becoming a “super-aged society” — moving at one of the fastest rates globally — with the proportion of elderly people in the population sharply rising. While the demographic shift of “fewer births than deaths” is no longer an anomaly, the nation’s legal framework and social customs appear stuck in the last century. Without adjustments, incidents like last month’s viral kicking incident on the Taipei MRT involving a 73-year-old woman would continue to proliferate, sowing seeds of generational distrust and conflict. The Senior Citizens Welfare Act (老人福利法), originally enacted in 1980 and revised multiple times, positions older
Nvidia Corp’s plan to build its new headquarters at the Beitou Shilin Science Park’s T17 and T18 plots has stalled over a land rights dispute, prompting the Taipei City Government to propose the T12 plot as an alternative. The city government has also increased pressure on Shin Kong Life Insurance Co, which holds the development rights for the T17 and T18 plots. The proposal is the latest by the city government over the past few months — and part of an ongoing negotiation strategy between the two sides. Whether Shin Kong Life Insurance backs down might be the key factor
RSS