On Feb. 17, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was postponing a visit to Taiwan’s African allies in order to focus on major issues, such as flood-control and consumer prices. Presidential aides said the decision was made after considering domestic problems, such as the widening wealth gap and high unemployment. Given the paucity of Ma’s efforts in these areas since the announcement, one might question if it was really necessary for him to stay at home.
The Africa jaunt had been planned for this month, after being postponed from last year. The ministry had wanted Ma to go to Burkina Faso in December so he could attend a presidential inauguration, but he had decided July would be better because of the special municipality elections at the end of November. Then he worried that traveling during the typhoon season could cause problems — what if he needed to rush home to deal with a typhoon-related catastrophe? — so he decided to wait until this year instead.
Now the likelihood of him making such a trip this year appears remote, since summer would bring the same typhoon worries, the fall marks the start of the legislative election campaign period and, of course, there is next year’s presidential election to think about.
Was it really domestic concerns that prompted Ma to delay packing his bags, or was it that he didn’t want to embarrass his friends in Beijing during the 10-day annual meeting of the National People’s Congress by flying the nation’s flag on a continent China is pouring money into?
After all, look at what Ma has accomplished since Feb. 17.
He met a delegation from the Slovak-Taiwanese Parliamentary Friendship Group and other Slovakian officials and a delegation from the European Parliament. He told the Executive Yuan to accelerate its reorganization to improve government efficiency and competitiveness, while defending another round of executions of death-row prisoners.
He attended the opening of the National 228 Memorial Museum and promised to help Taiwanese “comfort women” seeking reparations from Japan. He inspected the typhoon-damaged Suhua Highway and ordered monthly emergency disaster preparedness drills on the highway. He pushed for the fast-tracking of four candidates for the Council of Grand Justices, stumped for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidates in last Saturday’s by-elections in Greater Kaohsiung and Greater Tainan, and attended the nation’s first National Women’s Conference.
He also approved the Ministry of Finance’s proposed “luxury tax” and chaired a ministerial meeting to discuss the rising cost of living.
He also spoke out — eventually — against the Philippines’ extradition of 14 Taiwanese fraud suspects to China on Feb. 2 and demanded an apology from Manila. However, his remarks — and those of his team — blithely ignored the fact that the entire fracas stems from his government’s refusal to defend the nation’s sovereignty and its willingness to say Taiwan belongs to China.
Meanwhile, at the beginning of last month, an editorial in Gambian newspaper the Daily Observer was lavish in its praise of a gift of laptops for Gambian lawmakers from their counterparts in Taiwan. It also commended Taiwanese for their support and understanding. The commentary sounds like Gambia would warmly welcome a visit by the president of Taiwan — if it were ever given the chance.
Ma has repeatedly vowed to push to widen Taiwan’s international presence, but his continued emphasis on cross-strait affairs instead of foreign affairs has only served to limit this nation and distance it from the world stage. By staying home, he only reinforces that impression.
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