Ma is 100% pro-unification: Wu

Taipei Times: Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is leaving for the US today, and is likely to try to dispel US concerns that the KMT will not be pro-China, anti-US and anti-Japan if Ma is elected president in 2008. What do you think about this?

Wu: [Ma's] track record in both his behavior and remarks shows that he is indeed pro-China, anti-America and anti-Japan. Militarily, Taiwan's biggest threat is from China. It is necessary and legitimate for Taiwan to increase its self-defense capabilities. When the US President George W. Bush approved an arms sale deal to Taiwan in 2001 -- which included weapons that will increase Taiwan's anti-missile and anti-submarine capabilities -- we saw the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) block the government's arms procurement budget a total of 45 times in the legislative procedural committee, thus preventing the bill from going to the legislative floor for debate and discussion. This track record shows that the KMT seems to strongly oppose Taiwan increasing its self-defense capabilities. Ma said in a speech at the London School of Economics (LSE) last month that increasing Taiwan's defense capabilities would be a form of arms race with China, so it is obvious that Ma is against the arms procurement bill.

Another part of Ma's track record is his remarks on several occasions about Taiwan's relations with China. In December last year, Ma first spoke of the goal of "ultimate unification" with China during an interview with Newsweek magazine. Later, in an interview with the BBC's Chinese-language service, Ma said that people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait should jointly decide whether or not to unify when the time is ripe. Please note here that he only referred to unification as an option. He then continued to say that if the KMT comes to power again, it will not rule out the possibility of unification with China. And in his speech at LSE, he said he will endeavor to create conditions conducive to unification and for both Taiwan and China to agree to the "one China" principle.

Judging by these comments, I think Ma is a 100 percent advocate of unification, which to a large extent has also contributed to his anti-Japan and anti-America stance. Ma's reaction to the Diaoyutai territorial dispute with Japan has been very emotional, with his hard-line approach against the Japanese government. In addition, his stance towards the US may not be one that is well matched to US interests, as could be seen from the KMT's non-supportive attitude to the US in 2001. The [DPP] government at that time expressed its support for the US' anti-terrorism campaign. But if we look at the major statements by KMT leaders at the time, we find that the KMT was opposing the US war on terror.

TT: The public doesn't seem to be clear about the fact that Taiwan is not part of the People's Republic of China. Under the soft approach of China's "united front" tactics, it seems that quite a large portion of Taiwanese are not treating the Chinese threat as a serious matter. How do you see the development of such trends?

Wu: Yes, we've began to notice such developments recently. Not only is the cross-strait economic balance tilting towards China, the political balance is starting to lean toward China as well. And while Taiwan is faced with an unprecedented difficult situation following China's passage of the "Anti-Secession" Law in March last year and its gearing up "united front" tactics against Taiwan, we saw the KMT acting closely in line with China's policy. Just look at the KMT's track record last year. We've clearly seen the party, whether under (former chairman) Lien Chan (連戰) or Ma Ying-jeou's leadership, maneuver to make Taiwan part of China in a very subtle way.