Ever since President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) came to power, his policy implementation has been weak and the only thing he could possibly brag about has been cross-strait relations. However, despite all Taiwan’s compromises, warning signals are sounding regarding the cross-strait relationship.
The Chinese newspaper Global Times, which falls under the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) mouthpiece the People’s Daily, on Monday reported that Chinese students in Taiwan had been recruited by Taiwan’s security agencies to collect intelligence after returning to China.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesperson Fan Liqing (范麗青) has stressed repeatedly, with increasing force, that Taiwan must immediately cease this activity, which shows that this is not a straightforward matter and cross-strait relations are changing.
This year, the Sunflower movement has prevented the cross-strait service trade agreement being railroaded through the legislature; in June, TAO Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) was met by protests when visiting Taiwan; and in August, the Ma administration accused former Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) deputy minister Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) of leaking secrets and there were rumors that Chang, Taiwan’s top cross-strait negotiator, had been recruited as a spy by China, creating an awkward impasse in cross-strait relations.
China is worried that the “Umbrella revolution” in Hong Kong could result in Hong Kong joining Taiwan in calling for independence. This was why Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Sept. 26 said that “one country, two systems” would apply to Taiwan as well, replacing the so-called “1992 consensus.”
On Double Ten National Day, Ma “repaid the favor” by expressing support for the Hong Kong demonstrations and saying he hoped that China would “allow some people to enjoy democracy first.” The TAO immediately responded that “Taiwan should not be making irresponsible remarks about Hong Kong’s political reforms.”
Ma has been hoping for a meeting with Xi at the APEC summit, but Xi, clearly displeased with Ma, has poured cold water on the idea and does not want to break with precedent by allowing Ma to attend the summit.
Recruiting Chinese students as spies for Taiwan is nothing new. The Global Times has been carefully revealing basic information about the Taiwanese intelligence staff allegedly involved in these activities, implying that it is perhaps Taiwan’s intelligence agencies that have been infiltrated.
That China is revealing this case, while the hawks in Beijing are becoming increasingly vociferous rather than trying to resolve the issue through back-door channels, shows that fundamental issues of trust between the top leaders on the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are in question.
The day after the Global Times report, the Ma administration announced that senior civil servants would not be allowed to study in China, with immediate effect. In addition to this strong response to China’s accusations, the dampened enthusiasm for China among Taiwanese officials could also help prevent China from recruiting Taiwanese officials as spies.
The Ma administration has always slavishly followed China’s lead in the cross-strait relationship, but it is now less enthusiastic. This is good for Taiwan, because it will once again balance Taiwan’s relations with China and the rest of the world, instead of leaning lopsidedly toward China. However, in just a few months, cross-strait exchanges, which had seemed so warm, have been returned to square one: It has not been a “cold peace,” but rather a “cold war” relationship.
Cross-strait animosity has not diminished, nor has spying. Had the Sunflower movement not caused cross-strait relations to cool in March, Ma might have agreed to unfavorable conditions just to meet with Xi.
Cooling things down and maintaining an appropriate distance could stabilize Taiwan’s foreign relations.
With each passing day, the threat of a People’s Republic of China (PRC) assault on Taiwan grows. Whatever one’s view about the history, there is essentially no question that a PRC conquest of Taiwan would mark the end of the autonomy and freedom enjoyed by the island’s 23 million people. Simply put, the PRC threat to Taiwan is genuinely existential for a free, democratic and autonomous Taiwan. Yet one might not know it from looking at Taiwan. For an island facing a threat so acute, lethal and imminent, Taiwan is showing an alarming lack of urgency in dramatically strengthening its defenses.
More than seven months into the armed conflict in Gaza, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to take “immediate and effective measures” to protect Palestinians in Gaza from the risk of genocide following a case brought by South Africa regarding Israel’s breaches of the 1948 Genocide Convention. The international community, including Amnesty International, called for an immediate ceasefire by all parties to prevent further loss of civilian lives and to ensure access to life-saving aid. Several protests have been organized around the world, including at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and many other universities in the US.
Every day since Oct. 7 last year, the world has watched an unprecedented wave of violence rain down on Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories — more than 200 days of constant suffering and death in Gaza with just a seven-day pause. Many of us in the American expatriate community in Taiwan have been watching this tragedy unfold in horror. We know we are implicated with every US-made “dumb” bomb dropped on a civilian target and by the diplomatic cover our government gives to the Israeli government, which has only gotten more extreme with such impunity. Meantime, multicultural coalitions of US
I still remember the first time I heard about the possibility of an invasion by China. I was six years old. I thought war was coming and hid in my bed, scared. After 18 years, the invasion news tastes like a sandwich I eat every morning. As a Gen Z Taiwanese student who has witnessed China’s harassment for more than 20 years, I want to share my opinion on China. Every generation goes through different events. I have seen not only the norms of China’s constant presence, but also the Sunflower movement, wars and people fighting over peace or equality,