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MAC chief lashes out at Ma over national security

Mainland Affairs Council Chairman Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) has called on Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to demonstrate a sense of "responsibility" toward national security issues if he hopes to aspire to national leadership in the presidential elections in 2008.

Ma "will be a clear contender for the presidential position in 2008," in view of the KMT's gains in Saturday's local elections, Wu told a gathering in Washington on Wednesday. "If he is going to compete for that position, he has to demonstrate the sort of national responsibility as a national leader."

Wu's comments came toward the end of a four-day visit to Washington to sound out US reaction to the elections, in which the pan-blue alliance, spearheaded by the KMT, scored a striking victory over the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and its pan-green partner, the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU).

Wu complained that Ma "has been very vague" on national security issues, such as the military procurement budget and overall national security policy.

If he is going to vie for national leadership, "he has to address the national issues in a very serious manner," Wu said.

Wu said he is concerned that last weekend's election results will embolden the pan-blue camp to continue its "obstructionist" policy toward the DPP government.

He said he is "afraid" that the election results "might give an impression to the pan-blue side that an obstructionist approach against the government might be working, and if so, they might do something more than they have already done."

In particular, they might continue to pursue the so-called "cross-strait peace advancement bill," which, if approved, "is going to be a disaster for Taiwan domestically," and could cause "serious problems for the government in dealing with cross-strait relations as well," he said.

He cautioned the pan-blues to think twice about the implications of the bill, in view of the possibility that the KMT alliance might retake the presidency in 2008.

The bill would strip the Executive Yuan of power in cross-strait policymaking, he said, adding that "any future leader, whether it is [from] the pan-blue side or the pan-green side, would hate to see that, when they are in power, they don't have the power to make decisions on cross-strait relations."

"So, there may be a change, or serious discussions within the pan-blues to rethink their position," in view of the elections, Wu said.

For the Chen administration, cross-strait relations "will remain the same" despite the election results, which will "not have any implications for cross-strait policies," Wu said.

He also took issue with the pan-blue efforts to enact 15 amendments to cross-strait laws, saying "current cross-strait law is going to be destroyed" if the changes pass.

Wu was cautious in saying how Washington would respond to the elections. He noted the US State Department's comment that the elections were evidence of Taiwan's democracy, and that it congratulated Taiwan. He also cited President George W. Bush's statement in Kyoto during his recent Asia trip, urging China to emulate Taiwan's democracy.

"Any kind of democratic development is cherished by the Bush administration," Wu said.

He also said that Taiwan has not been a major foreign policy issue with the Bush administration for at least six months, and that "this can be interpreted in a positive light." But in such a situation, "we are worried that China may take this opportunity to squeeze Taiwan internationally, without being noticed by other countries. We tried to make some of our American friends understand this," Wu said.
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