Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has, no doubt, raised political eyebrows with his announcement last week that he is planning an overseas trip later this month. He has struck an even more sensitive nerve by saying that his first trip abroad since leaving office on May 20 is to— of all places — Hong Kong.
Ma said he has accepted an invitation by the Society of Publishers in Asia to give a speech at an award presentation dinner in Hong Kong on Wednesday next week.
As the Presidential Office reviews Ma’s application in accordance with the National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法) — which stipulates that retired, high-ranking officials need to secure approval from the government for overseas visits within three years of stepping down, because they have had access to classified information during their tenure.
Taiwan’s political circle is having a field day speculating on the purpose and motive behind Ma’s trip.
Ma’s office said he has planned the Hong Kong visit as a one-day trip in a bid “to prevent people with a vested interest from making a big fuss over the matter,” and that his sole agenda is to deliver a speech at the award ceremony to recognize outstanding performance among journalists from Asian nations.
Be that as it may, all is not as simple as Ma’s office would like the public to think.
Regardless of the length of an overseas trip, there is always going to be a certain amount of political significance attached to travel made by the nation’s former presidents.
In the case of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), the first overseas trip he made after stepping down from the presidency in 2000 was to the UK, before taking another trip later the same year to the Czech Republic for the Forum 2000 Conference, during which he also met with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. On those trips, as well as other visits to the US and Japan in later years, the international community could not mistake Lee’s belief in democracy and human rights.
Hong Kong, being Ma’s first place to visit after leaving office, should not be casually brushed aside as merely being where Ma was born.
Hong Kong is the one place where China implements the “one country, two systems” model -— a political arrangement that China has been wanting Taiwan to follow that regards China as the motherland.
Even if Ma does not comment on politics during his visit to Hong Kong, the fact he is there in his capacity as a former president provides an opportunity for China to claim that “Taiwan is a part of China’s territory.”
Taking into account past instances of Hong Kong authorities rejecting visa applications from Taiwanese politicians — including some from the pan-blue camp — the fact that Ma was granted a visa is sound enough evidence that the trip has the nod from Beijing.
In recent years, Hong Kong has become a highly politically-charged zone. It was witness to the pro-democracy Umbrella movement, which called for democratic elections, as well as a string of violent suppressions of freedom of expression, including controversial cases involving missing associates of publishing house Mighty Current (巨流) and its bookstore Causeway Bay Books (銅鑼灣圖書).
In light of these incidents, if Ma is to make a speech at an award ceremony hosted by a Hong Kong-based organization dedicated to safeguarding the freedom of the media, he should take the chance to promote democracy and human rights.
Lee has demonstrated a level of graciousness and class befitting a former president from a democracy by promoting respect for human rights and promoting Taiwan as a democracy.
If all Ma is going to talk about is his views on cross-strait relations and the so-called “1992 consensus,” then he is but a politician eager for a stage so that he can defend his past achievements for personal political gain.
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