President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) keeps repeating that his foreign policy is pro-US, Japan-friendly and at peace with China, but as his term in office is about to expire and his secret inner world is gradually being revealed.
It turns out that in reality he is pro-China, anti-Japan and ambivalent toward the US. This is obvious from the fact that Ma and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) during their meeting in Singapore on Nov. 7 stressed that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have signed 23 agreements, whereas the dispute with the US over beef imports in the Taiwan-US Trade and Investment Framework Agreement has continued to drag on.
When dealing with cross-strait affairs, Ma suddenly becomes another person.
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) fiasco is one example.
In March, China established the bank, which it dominates, as part of its battle for supremacy with the US.
On the final day of the deadline for applications, Ma unilaterally decided that Taiwan — which still relies heavily on the goodwill of the US to survive — should apply to join the bank.
The application was delivered late at night to the “enemy camp” — an action that fully exposed Ma’s pro-China stance and the way he is distancing Taiwan from the US.
Ma’s rash action immediately got its just desserts as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was accorded a high-level reception in Washington.
In contrast, Xi gained even more confidence in the “One Belt, One Road” policy that he has proposed as part of his “China dream” after the successful establishment of the AIIB. China’s blueprint for world domination then started its progress east by building runways on the Fiery Cross Reef (Yongshu Reef, 永暑礁) and other reefs in the South China Sea.
China’s bid for hegemony galvanized the Japanese into action.
On Sept. 19, the upper house of the Japanese Diet passed new security legislation by 148 votes to 90, allowing Japan’s Self-Defense Forces to assist in the defense of the nation’s allies.
This further strengthened the Japan-US alliance and built a western Pacific line of defense with Japan, together with Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam.
In the Sino-US struggle in the western Pacific, Taiwan is clearly taking on a critical role that is pivotal for the victory or defeat of either side.
This is the main reason why Xi, after Chinese leaders had rejected a meeting for seven years, decided to meet with Ma.
For China, the meeting enabled Xi to seize the Taiwanese leader by the hand and announce to the whole world that there is only “one China” and that Taiwan is a province of China, integrating Taiwan into Chinese territory and severing the US-built western Pacific defense line in one fell swoop.
Ma and Xi’s “one China” declaration was sure to have no less an impact on US President Barack Obama than Taiwan’s sudden application to join the AIIB.
Both Xi and Ma stressed in their speeches that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are one family and that they should both contribute to the renaissance of Chinese.
Their whole discourse was based on Chinese nationalism. Their 80-second handshake was a silent hostile gesture which expressed clearly to the US that a Taiwan-China alliance was at hand, if not right now, then in the near future.
It goes without saying that a Taiwan-China alliance and unification are synonymous.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) left to visit the US on Tuesday last week.
The US is a mature democracy and Chu’s visit was accorded the same level of courtesy as was Tsai’s, and it is being greeted with great hyperbole by the KMT.
However, as US politicians are not complete bumblers, the US will keep its commitment to the western Pacific nations.
There are less than two months until the presidential election and at this critical moment China has chosen to blatantly interfere. Is the US willing to look on without lifting a finger as the China-Taiwan alliance comes to fruition?
With the real wrangling between China and the US over Taiwan’s politics about to start in earnest, I urge Tsai not to waver and to hold fast to her opinions.
She should stand bravely together with the US and Japan, and put her trust in the 46.4 percent of the public who advocate independence.
This is the last leg of the race to the finishing line.
Huang Tien-lin is a former presidential adviser.
Translated by Clare Lear
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