China makes no secret of its ambition to annex Taiwan with its “united front” tactics. Government decisionmakers in Taiwan must be more alert when formulating cross-strait policy, a solemn matter — as former national policy advisor Rex How (郝明義) put it, “a matter of life and death” — that has direct consequences for Taiwan.
A growing number of Taiwanese have criticisms of the cross-strait service trade agreement. President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) should empathize with their worries in the same way as, in his opinion, China has adopted a softer and more delicate manner in dealing with cross-strait relations.
“In recent years, both Chinese academics and officials have gained more confidence in dealing with cross-strait relations and become more soft and flexible in dealing with Taiwan,” then-Taipei mayor Ma said in January 2003. “This is something over which the Taiwanese government should exercise caution in mapping out its cross-strait policies.”
“If China always threatens Taiwan by saying it will never renounce the use of force against Taiwan, it will further boost Taiwan’s solidarity. However, if China uses a soft approach, it might aggravate internal splits within Taiwanese society,” he said. Ma went on to advise the then-Democratic Progressive Party administration that it “should deal with this with meticulous care and try to reach a domestic consensus soon; otherwise, it will be very disadvantageous to Taiwan.”
Fast-forward to the present, with Ma himself now dictating the nation’s policy directions: He is well advised to revisit his statements and heed warnings about China’s “sugar-coated poison” that came straight from the horse’s mouth.
Under the agreement, China would open 80 service sub-sectors to Taiwan, while Taiwan would open 64 sub-sectors to China. While a casual glance at the numbers might suggest that China is giving greater benefits to Taiwan, there is more to this than meets the eye.
The sectors opened to China include commerce, telecommunications, distribution, health, tourism, entertainment, culture, transportation and finance. A close study of the agreement — which was not made public until after it was signed in Shanghai on June 21 — suggests that one sector actually includes a wide range of sub-industries that exceeds the “64 sub-
sectors” touted by the Ma government.
A former official of the Ma administration is among its critics. Former finance minister and Council for Economic Planning and Development minister Christina Liu (劉憶如), predicting the impacts of the agreement, said it was “worrisome” that the government has not mapped out adequate supplementary measures to care for the affected industries.
Bureau of Foreign Trade Director-General Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) argued that the agreement would not have negative effects on Taiwan’s workers other than seeing many of their employers change to be Chinese nationals, just like others who may have foreign nationals as their company bosses. However, he missed one crucial fact: Apart from those from China, none of the foreign employers harbor the malicious intent to call Taiwan a part of their own territory.
In response to the concerns expressed by academics, industry experts and service operators over potential adverse repercussions, the Internal Administration Committee, entrusted by the legislature’s plenary session following intra-party negotiation, will hold another 16 rounds of public hearings to gauge opinions before the legislative review of the pact.
While opponents of the agreement may for now breathe a sigh of relief, they must keep a watchful eye on proceedings.
It is also hoped that the president, who should be well aware of what is at stake for Taiwan when negotiating intricate cross-strait relations, will come to his senses before it is too late.
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations