According to recent reports, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview with reporters from two Japanese newspapers — the Yomiuri Shimbun and the Nihon Keizai Shimbun — that he did not rule out the possibility of signing a political agreement on unification with China. This was a very surprising thing to read. The next day, the Office of the President issued a press release in which it denied this report and accused the Yomiuri Shimbun article of misrepresenting Ma and being a reflection of the reporter’s subjective bias.
As a Taiwanese, I would like to believe that Ma said no such thing. This article is not intended to discuss the rights and wrongs of independence or unification, but it must be said that countless opinion polls have shown that only a tiny minority of Taiwanese are in favor of unification. As a popularly elected president, how can Ma run counter to mainstream popular opinion by preaching to foreign media about his personal vision for the future? Perhaps we should remind Ma that, on the issue of unification or independence, the president has just one vote — no more and no less than anyone else.
Apart from this question of unification, the interview also touched on the issue of a peace agreement. However, until such time as China formally recognizes Taiwan, or the Republic of China, as a legal entity, there is really no legal basis for the two sides to engage in political negotiations. Neither Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation nor China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits has the authority to sign any kind of political agreement. Both of these bodies are non-governmental organizations that serve as proxies to handle functional cross-strait issues, so how could they deal with matters of sovereignty and the authority to govern? It is also not possible for Taiwan to sign any political agreements with the People’s Republic of China while using such titles as “Chinese Taipei” or “Taiwan, China.”
Recently some people have been advocating “two Chinas” or “one country, two governments,” a sign that some intellectuals have woken from their slumber and discovered that “one country, two systems,” which is a legacy of colonial times, is not an acceptable formula when it comes to relations between Taiwan and China. Evidently it has dawned on these writers that we need to work out some other kind of arrangement.
The accusation made by the Office of the President that the Yomiuri Shimbun interview report was subjective and biased also calls for comment. In the course of my career, I have made friends with some journalists from the mainstream international media, including the Yomiuri Shimbun, and I have much admiration for their professionalism and ability to self-regulate and delve deeply into the issue at hand. Their interview techniques are also very impressive, so it is hard to believe that the interviewers would simply make things up. It would be reasonable to infer that it was the overall context of what Ma said that gave the interviewers the impression that he has a missionary-like zeal for unification between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.
It is not a good thing for a head of state to keep correcting and objecting to what others have said or written. Surely the right way for a head of state to interact with the international media is to make sure that he or she keeps public opinion in mind and focuses on the public interest at all times.
Chen Rong-jye is a professor of law and a former secretary-general of the Straits Exchange Foundation.
Translated by Julian Clegg
Congressman Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) led a bipartisan delegation to Taiwan in late February. During their various meetings with Taiwan’s leaders, this delegation never missed an opportunity to emphasize the strength of their cross-party consensus on issues relating to Taiwan and China. Gallagher and Krishnamoorthi are leaders of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. Their instruction upon taking the reins of the committee was to preserve China issues as a last bastion of bipartisanship in an otherwise deeply divided Washington. They have largely upheld their pledge. But in doing so, they have performed the
It is well known that Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) ambition is to rejuvenate the Chinese nation by unification of Taiwan, either peacefully or by force. The peaceful option has virtually gone out of the window with the last presidential elections in Taiwan. Taiwanese, especially the youth, are resolved not to be part of China. With time, this resolve has grown politically stronger. It leaves China with reunification by force as the default option. Everyone tells me how and when mighty China would invade and overpower tiny Taiwan. However, I have rarely been told that Taiwan could be defended to
It should have been Maestro’s night. It is hard to envision a film more Oscar-friendly than Bradley Cooper’s exploration of the life and loves of famed conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein. It was a prestige biopic, a longtime route to acting trophies and more (see Darkest Hour, Lincoln, and Milk). The film was a music biopic, a subgenre with an even richer history of award-winning films such as Ray, Walk the Line and Bohemian Rhapsody. What is more, it was the passion project of cowriter, producer, director and actor Bradley Cooper. That is the kind of multitasking -for-his-art overachievement that Oscar
Chinese villages are being built in the disputed zone between Bhutan and China. Last month, Chinese settlers, holding photographs of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), moved into their new homes on land that was not Xi’s to give. These residents are part of the Chinese government’s resettlement program, relocating Tibetan families into the territory China claims. China shares land borders with 15 countries and sea borders with eight, and is involved in many disputes. Land disputes include the ones with Bhutan (Doklam plateau), India (Arunachal Pradesh, Aksai Chin) and Nepal (near Dolakha and Solukhumbu districts). Maritime disputes in the South China