People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) is to attend this year’s APEC meeting in Lima, Peru, on behalf of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
Beijing has made it clear that it will not prevent him from going, but will not have any contact with him. If this is the idea of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, then Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) should replace all of the officials in that office.
China likes to think that it is becoming a superpower, but its game plans do not go beyond the old tactic of “give me what I want, or I will not talk to you.” Curiously, China is not blocking Soong from attending APEC, but at the same time, Xi is not going to interact or speak with him. Is it China’s plan to let Xi go to Lima to play hide-and-seek with Soong and act like a clown? How can China tolerate obstinate bureaucrats who come up with ideas like that and not fire them?
At an international conference, there are certain manners to be observed, and sometimes the harder you try to avoid someone, the easier it is to run into them. If Soong walks up to Xi, will Xi turn around and run away? Maybe there are not so many such “coincidences,” but if it so happens that the two are requested to appear at the same time, will one of the protocol officers ask one of the two to wait until the other moves on?
China has a rule banning interactions with Taiwanese delegates in international settings. In 2014, when the APEC summit was held in Beijing, Xi only met with former vice president Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), who led the Taiwanese delegation that year, after the meetings were over. Last year, Xi asked Siew to speak with him before the official dinner began, but US President Barack Obama also showed up, and so the three of them spoke together for about five minutes.
If on similar occasions — when attendees enter the venue, pose for a group photograph or have an official dinner together — Xi has to watch out for Soong and keep his mouth shut in Soong’s presence, he would only make himself an international laughing stock and put Taiwan under the spotlight.
China does not want Taiwan’s president to go to APEC summits because it wants to suppress Taiwan. As a result, Soong, a person of lower rank, gets to rub shoulders with presidents and prime ministers. Since he represents Tsai, he will hold equal status with other leaders at the APEC summit. It would be a good thing if Soong got to speak with Xi for a minute or two, but if he does not and only gets to speak with other leaders, the trip would be worthwhile.
Xi should display more generosity and respect toward Taiwan’s democracy. It is a good thing that Beijing does not block Taiwan from participating in APEC, but there should be dialogue and interaction between the Chinese delegates and their Taiwanese counterparts.
If there is not, Xi will have to watch Soong mingle and converse in English with the leaders of other nations, and that will make Xi’s loss even greater. In addition, even if he avoids Soong, Xi’s wife, Peng Liyuan (彭麗媛), will probably have a hard time avoiding Soong’s daughter, Soong Cheng-mai (宋鎮邁), who is to go to Lima with her father.
That is another great episode that you will not want to miss.
James Wang is a media commentator.
Translated by Ethan Zhan
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