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Post-Olympic era crucial: academics

Several academics said yesterday that the “post-Olympics era” is crucial to relations across the Taiwan Strait, as it is a transition period for China on its irreversible path of gradual political and economic change.

“In the long term, political change will inevitably occur in China,” said Chou Jih-shine (周繼祥), a professor at National Taiwan University’s Graduate Institute of National Development.

Chou was speaking at a seminar on “China in the Post-Olympic Era” held by the pro-localization Taiwan Thinktank.

“It is impossible to reverse this kind of political metamorphosis,” Chou said. “The Beijing Olympics opened a window for political reform in China and there is no way to go back, even though the speed and scope of reform might not be fast or broad.”

He said that China made some unprecedented concessions for the Olympics, though only as formalities, such as allowing foreign media to report freely in China and designating three areas in Beijing for demonstrations and petitions.

Although it is impossible to envision China making a U-turn overnight on its political policies following the Olympics, it is fair to say that had it not been for the Olympics, China might have continued to be self-contained and to shut out the rest of the world, he said.

Hsu Chih-chia (許志嘉), chairman of Mingchuan University’s journalism department, however, said China should use the post-Olympics era as an opportunity to develop more concrete policies that would be in Taiwan’s interest and respond to a series of goodwill gestures by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) since he took office on May 20.

“Beijing should think big and not take Taiwan’s self-control as a matter of course rather than goodwill,” Hsu said. “China should do more, not just make small gestures, to better develop cross-strait relations.”

Hsu’s call for China to do more came after Beijing’s announcement on Sunday that it would relax controls on tourism across the Taiwan Strait, which Hsu said was more in China’s interests than Taiwan’s and was merely a response to Taiwan’s earlier proposal.

Since Ma took office, Ma has proposed a “diplomatic truce” and a “modus vivendi” approach to diplomacy, which are aimed at ending the longstanding diplomatic tug-of-war with China.

Hsu said Ma’s administration has shown plenty of goodwill by downplaying the disputes regarding the name used for Taiwan’s Olympic team, and on Taiwan’s approach this year to joining the UN, not to mention Ma’s decision to make “extremely low-profile” transit stops in the US en route to South America and the Caribbean last month.

“Ma’s conciliatory and low-key policy in dealing with cross-strait issues can provide a better foundation for the two sides to work on improving relations,” Hsu said.

“However, China’s attitude is key to whether such stable relations can continue to develop,” he said.

Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政), a member of the executive committee of Taiwan Thinktank and chairman of Soochow University’s political science department, said Taiwan should think about its policies on opening up to China, as during the process of give and take, Taiwan often is not the decision maker.

China is just part of the globalization process, rather than the only country involved, and Taiwan should engage in risk management instead of putting all its eggs in one basket, he said.

In related news, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday welcomed Beijing’s relaxation of controls on tourism across the Taiwan Strait.

KMT Deputy Secretary-General Chang Jung-kung (張榮恭) said Beijing’s new measures were conducive to the development of a harmonious relationship between the peoples on both sides of the Strait and would help infuse vitality to Taiwan’s economy.

Chang yesterday said that Beijing’s announcement made concrete the consensus reached by the KMT and Chinese Communist Party and met the expectations of people on both sides of the Strait. It not only tallied with the administration’s policy but also indicated that cross-strait relations are developing toward the goal of mutual benefit, he said.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KO SHU-LING
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