After repeatedly downplaying the possibility of a direct meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), while insisting that such a meeting could only take place with the support of the Taiwanese public, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) finally revealed his true intentions in an interview with the Hong Kong-based weekly Yazhou Zhoukan.
Ma was quoted in the interview, released on Wednesday, as saying that although China has ruled out the possibility of a Ma-Xi meeting at next year’s APEC summit, he remains willing to attend the economic summit and meet Xi, adding that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait “need to create the conditions necessary for such a meeting, and we are still in the process of creating these conditions.”
Observers of the political power play could see that it was only a matter of time before Ma revealed his true intentions.
Ma has a history of feigning lack of interest just before jumping into the fray when the timing appears to be right. The 1998 Taipei mayoral race was a classic example: After repeatedly stating that he was not interested in running, he ran. Ma also repeatedly claimed that he would not take on the dual roles of national president and party chairman, but then followed these claims by running for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairmanship twice.
After securing re-election as president in January last year, Ma has made no secret of his ambition to leave a significant legacy in cross-strait relations. Despite this, it remains shocking that he appears more eager to meet and converse with Xi than with his own people.
While expressly stating in the interview that he has a personal wish to meet Xi, Ma has remained unresponsive to calls from the public to reshuffle the Cabinet in an attempt to resuscitate the nation’s economy, to the appeals of residents of Dapu Borough (大埔) in Miaoli County over the forced demolition of their houses and to calls to meet with Chinese dissidents.
In case the president is in need of a reminder, because of his administration’s poor governance and misguided policies, the nation is suffering with a sluggish economy and a high unemployment rate.
The nation’s economic woes and lack of employment prospects have even driven young people to commit suicide.
One would hope that the president, who is fond of lecturing his officials, is able to keep the public’s suffering close to heart, and can empathize with their plight and struggles by addressing his plans to overcome the bleak situation facing the nation. This would recapture the people’s confidence.
Ma, despite having a low approval rating of 9.2 percent, chose to speak at length about his wish to meet with Xi instead of addressing the multiple difficulties plaguing the nation and his people.
Rather than responding to calls for dialogue from various groups within the country, he is interested in discussing his future meeting with Xi. This is evidence that he is only seeking personal gain and to cement his personal “legacy.”
Ma would be well advised, as head of the nation voted into office by the people of Taiwan, to make the public’s welfare and national interests his priority. Only if he can live up to the role and responsibilities of the nation’s president will he leave a positive and lasting mark in Taiwan’s political history.
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