US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kin Moy is to become the new director of the American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) Taipei office. At a time when Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) has just returned from meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is to visit Washington for her “political interview,” some have said that the purpose of the AIT appointment is to ensure Taiwan maintains the cross-strait “status quo,” so the US can realize its strategic shift of balance to Asia.
Maintaining the “status quo” was something Tsai proposed in her cross-strait policy not long ago, but her proposal was strongly questioned by the KMT, with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) asking whether the public would prefer the “status quo” under the KMT or the “status quo” under the DPP of seven years ago. Ma is attempting to play the unification-independence card, but his ruse is not so clever.
Forget for a moment that last year’s Sunflower movement was a vote of no confidence in Ma’s cross-strait policy and that the KMT suffered a major defeat in the nine-in-one elections. As US academic Richard Fisher wrote in his book China’s Military Modernization: Building for Regional and Global Reach — which the Ministry of National Defense uses as a reference for Taiwanese military officers — the pro-Taiwanese independence force so roundly condemned by China actually refers to Taiwanese democracy. Therefore, opposing Taiwanese independence is opposing democracy.
This is why Beijing canceled former Mainland Affairs Council deputy minister Tung Chen-yuan’s (童振源) planned visit to China earlier this month. Although Tung has proposed freezing the DPP’s pro-independence platform and forming a cross-strait peaceful development commission, he crossed Beijing’s red line by proposing to take “democratic China” as the basis for cross-strait exchanges.
The US-based Center for Strategic and International Studies last year conducted a survey, called “Power and Order in Asia,” with 402 non-governmental diplomatic experts from 11 countries. More than 70 percent of respondents believe China’s push for unification with Taiwan would hurt their national interests. About 43 percent of Chinese academics surveyed even said that unification cannot enhance China’s national interests.
Mainstream public opinion in Taiwan also favors de facto independence. An opinion poll on cross-strait relations conducted by the council in September last year showed that 6.2 percent of respondents supported immediate unification and 12 percent supported unification on the premise of maintaining the “status quo”. About 19.5 percent supported immediate independence and 27.3 percent supported independence on the premise of maintaining the “status quo”. The rest supported maintaining the “status quo” either for now or for good.
Meanwhile, a survey on unification conducted by the non-governmental Taiwan Indicators Survey Research in August last year showed that only 20 percent of respondents supported it, while 61.1 percent opposed it.
In the mind of the public, it is not a question of maintaining the “status quo” of seven years ago or now. It is a democratic awareness against unification.
The opinion polls demonstrate Fisher’s contention that opposing Taiwanese independence is opposing democracy is true.
Tsai has already constrained herself by proposing to maintain the “status quo”, and it would be unwise for the KMT and Chinese Communist Party to continue to tie her to the “one China” policy.
Lu I-ming is the former publisher and president of the Taiwan Shin Sheng Daily News.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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
When former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) first took office in 2016, she set ambitious goals for remaking the energy mix in Taiwan. At the core of this effort was a significant expansion of the percentage of renewable energy generated to keep pace with growing domestic and global demands to reduce emissions. This effort met with broad bipartisan support as all three major parties placed expanding renewable energy at the center of their energy platforms. However, over the past several years partisanship has become a major headwind in realizing a set of energy goals that all three parties profess to want. Tsai
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