The US and China are the two countries with the biggest influence over Taiwan’s international role. So, how are Taiwan’s relations with these two big powers shaping up?
Despite all the news to the contrary, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) says that relations are smooth and relaxed. He has said that US-Taiwan relations are closer than they have been at any time during the past 30 years and that cross-strait relations are the best they have been in 60 years. If past presidents didn’t feel themselves standing at the edge of an abyss, they at least realized that they were treading on thin ice. None of them were as confident a Ma in the face of such dire international trends. Has Taiwan under Ma’s leadership really changed so much that it has left all its problems behind?
Of course not. Moreover, Taiwan’s foreign relations have now reached a critical imbalance. The arrest of Jacqueline Liu (劉姍姍), director-general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Kansas City, Missouri, by FBI agents and the meeting between Ma’s APEC envoy Lien Chan (連戰) and Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) at the recent APEC summit in Hawaii probably offer the most realistic image of the government’s interactions with the US and China: They are at the end of their tether, unable to cope with the situation.
Liu was accused of fraud in foreign labor contracting because her Philippine -housekeeper, who was hired to work 40 hours per week and receive a monthly salary of US$1,240, in fact had to work six days per week, 16 to 18 hours per day and received a much lower salary. Because Liu planned to leave the US as soon as the accusations appeared, the US prosecutor requested that she be detained without bail. This case raises at least five questions that need clarifying.
First, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) declared that this was the first time a Taiwanese diplomat had been arrested in the US since the bilateral Agreement on Privileges, Exemptions and Immunities (台美特權, 免稅暨豁免協定) was signed in 1980. If this statement is correct, it pokes a big hole in Ma’s statement that Taiwan-US relations are closer than they have been at any time in the past 30 years.
Second, the US prosecutor said that Taiwan was not a sovereign state and that its diplomats therefore did not enjoy diplomatic immunity. Surely this is symbolic, not of the closest, but of the frostiest, relationship between Taiwan and the US in the past 30 years.
Third, what is covered by the Agreement on Privileges, Exemptions and Immunities? Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) says that diplomats only enjoy immunity in the course of their official duties, but not when they act in a private capacity. The foreign ministry believes Liu enjoys immunity and has lodged a protest with US authorities both in Taiwan and in the US. Who is right?
Fourth, regardless of whether Taiwan and the US have different understandings, Taiwan’s foreign minister said that it was not necessary for the US to handle the matter in the manner it did, indirectly saying that the US should have informed Taiwan through diplomatic channels. If Taiwan’s representative office in the US handles relations with the US properly and according to protocol, that would not be asking much. That raises the question why US authorities chose to act the way they did.
Fifth, having caused relations with the US to deteriorate to such an undignified state, one cannot help but wonder what the staff at the representative office in Washington have been doing over the past four years. What have they done to mislead Ma to the point where he is so pleased with relations, deceiving the whole country?
If US relations are in such a shambles, then how about relations with China? When Lien met Hu in Honolulu, three actions in particular drew attention.
First, as the president’s special envoy, Lien referred to Ma as “Mr Ma” in his conversation with Hu. Second, Lien and Hu reiterated their common opposition to Taiwanese independence and insisted on the relevance of the so-called “1992 consensus.” Third, when Lien’s suggestion that a peace accord should be discussed at an opportune moment stirred up controversy, he said that he had been simply talking about “peaceful development.”
Because Hu rejects the title of president for Ma, Lien can only refer to Ma as “Mr Ma,” while Ma himself has to silently accept this state of affairs. Will he also swear allegiance and pay tribute by accepting that there is only “one China” by signing a peace accord?
If it is this humiliating, subservient slave mentality that he means when he says current cross-strait relations are the best they have been in 60 years, then this head of state is denigrating and humiliating Taiwan.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that the Ma administration is dealing with US and China relations by sitting on the fence trying to find out in which direction the wind blows.
Ma is a president who was out of the loop when a Taiwanese diplomat was arrested in the US, who couldn’t even insist on his own title being used in dealings with China and who is shrinking Taiwan’s living space to the point where it has to exist in the cracks of the international community, while still claiming to be proud of his achievements.
Why on earth would Taiwanese voters want to re-elect such a man?
Translated by Perry Svensson
There is a modern roadway stretching from central Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland in the Horn of Africa, to the partially recognized state’s Egal International Airport. Emblazoned on a gold plaque marking the road’s inauguration in July last year, just below the flags of Somaliland and the Republic of China (ROC), is the road’s official name: “Taiwan Avenue.” The first phase of construction of the upgraded road, with new sidewalks and a modern drainage system to reduce flooding, was 70 percent funded by Taipei, which contributed US$1.85 million. That is a relatively modest sum for the effect on international perception, and
At the end of last year, a diplomatic development with consequences reaching well beyond the regional level emerged. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Israel’s recognition of Somaliland as a sovereign state, paving the way for political, economic and strategic cooperation with the African nation. The diplomatic breakthrough yields, above all, substantial and tangible benefits for the two countries, enhancing Somaliland’s international posture, with a state prepared to champion its bid for broader legitimacy. With Israel’s support, Somaliland might also benefit from the expertise of Israeli companies in fields such as mineral exploration and water management, as underscored by Israeli Minister of
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) challenges and ignores the international rules-based order by violating Taiwanese airspace using a high-flying drone: This incident is a multi-layered challenge, including a lawfare challenge against the First Island Chain, the US, and the world. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) defines lawfare as “controlling the enemy through the law or using the law to constrain the enemy.” Chen Yu-cheng (陳育正), an associate professor at the Graduate Institute of China Military Affairs Studies, at Taiwan’s Fu Hsing Kang College (National Defense University), argues the PLA uses lawfare to create a precedent and a new de facto legal
Chile has elected a new government that has the opportunity to take a fresh look at some key aspects of foreign economic policy, mainly a greater focus on Asia, including Taiwan. Still, in the great scheme of things, Chile is a small nation in Latin America, compared with giants such as Brazil and Mexico, or other major markets such as Colombia and Argentina. So why should Taiwan pay much attention to the new administration? Because the victory of Chilean president-elect Jose Antonio Kast, a right-of-center politician, can be seen as confirming that the continent is undergoing one of its periodic political shifts,
RSS