There have been reports in the media about the wedding of the son of a friend of a retired government official. The bride, a Chinese citizen, had many family and friends who wanted to visit Taiwan to attend the wedding, but the Chinese government only approved her parents’ application to travel one day before the wedding. As such, there were very few guests at the ceremony.
The retired official did not blame the Chinese government for restricting the bride’s family and friends from attending the wedding — which violated their freedom of movement and was very inconsiderate. Instead, he blamed Taipei for not accepting the so-called “1992 consensus.” This attitude reflects the increased tension over cross-strait issues within the nation.
In her inaugural address on May 20, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said that her principles for handling cross-strait relations include: that the 1992 talks were a historical fact, the Constitution, the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例), democratic principles and the will of Taiwanese. As her speech shows, Tsai has since been doing her best to seek common ground with Beijing while adhering to Taiwan’s legal framework.
Despite her efforts, China has severed official exchanges with Taiwan, reduced the number of Chinese tourists to Taiwan and continued to restrict the nation’s participation in international events. Beijing’s rough approach in spite of Tsai’s willingness to cooperate and be flexible has upset many Taiwanese, who feel that China is ungrateful and condescending.
Beijing, of course, has its own strategic considerations. It has chosen a rough approach as part of its plan to provoke a backlash against Tsai among Taiwanese, forcing her to make further concessions on cross-strait issues. Unfortunately, many Taiwanese, deliberately or out of ignorance, are buying into or being manipulated by this Chinese strategy.
Since Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) took office, Beijing has tightened its censorship and cracked down on human rights activists. Many China experts around the world are skeptical about whether Xi will follow precedent and step down at the end of his term. China is in the process of building a new strongman, authoritarian system that is not only opposed to Taiwanese independence, but also to allowing democracy.
Hong Kong is a perfect example of what is happening in China. Beijing has reacted strongly to Hong Kongers’ demands for democracy, and the Causeway Bay Books (銅鑼灣書店) incident has allowed people to see the true face of the “one country, two systems” policy. The Tsai administration should do its best to help minimize the impact caused by reduced cross-strait exchanges, but considering what is happening in Hong Kong, should Taiwan not do all it can to safeguard its democracy?
Discussions of cross-strait issues must begin with an honest understanding of the reasons the two sides are divided. It is true that if Taiwan and China are willing to work together on creating mutually beneficial results, they could be a powerful team that might even be able to transform the Chinese-speaking world. However, Beijing has been unfairly demanding that Taiwan accept the “one China” principle, while it refuses to democratize and is unwilling to help promote development in the Chinese-speaking world in line with democratic principles.
As Taiwan and China go through a period of changes, should Xi not also consider promoting democracy in China instead of simply pushing Taiwan to abandon its democratic principles for the sake of the “1992 consensus”?
Ho Hsin-chuan is a professor at National Chengchi University’s philosophy department.
Translated by Tu Yu-an
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