President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) appointment of former vice president Lien Chan (連戰) as his special envoy to the 2008 APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting was made with Beijing’s consent, US cables released by WikiLeaks show.
A cable dated Dec. 5, 2008, from the US embassy in Beijing shows that Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits Vice Chairman Sun Yafu (孫亞夫) confirmed such speculation when he cited it as an example of China’s goodwill toward Taiwan.
In the cable, Sun Yafu admitted at a meeting with US officials that China is “hesitant” to grant Taiwan international space because of concerns over the “one China” issue.
Photo: CNA
“Nevertheless, China has been ‘careful’ on the issue and has ‘shown restraint’ in order to avoid offending Taiwan,” Sun said,
He pointed to China’s “low-key” approach to Ma’s transit in the US in August of that year as a “tacit acceptance” of Ma’s request for a “diplomatic ceasefire,” as well as the approval of Lien as Taiwan’s APEC envoy as examples of this “restraint.”
In another cable dated Nov. 25, 2008, issued by the embassy, a visiting US expert was quoted as saying that Taiwan Affairs Office Director Wang Yi (王毅) told him during a meeting on Oct. 31 that China had approved Taiwan’s appointment of Lien as Ma’s APEC envoy.
“Wang specifically pointed to the approval of Lien as Taiwan’s APEC envoy in response to a charge that the PRC [People’s Republic of China] had done nothing on the international space issue,” the expert, who was not named, was quoted as saying in the cable.
The cable quoted remarks made by Peking University’s Jia Qingguo (賈慶國) to embassy officials that Lien’s participation at APEC was a “big deal.”
“Jia expressed concern that a future DPP [Democratic Progressive Party] administration would demand similar treatment, quipping that the prospect of former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) attending APEC was ‘not a pleasant thought,’” the cable said.
Another academic, Peng Weixue (彭維學) of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said in the cable that the approval of Lien was because of the “comfort level” Chinese leaders have with him personally, as well as the general improvement in cross-strait relations.
“Because of frequent contacts since 2005, Chinese leaders have built up a sufficient level of trust in Lien, making him an acceptable candidate. That may not have been the case had Ma Ying-jeou nominated someone else,” Peng said.
When asked by the Taipei Times to comment, Presidential Office spokesman Fan Chiang Chi-tai (范姜基泰) said only that it is the president who appoints the APEC envoy.
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