The “diplomatic truce” strategy proposed by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is “constructive” and long overdue but Beijing must reciprocate fast before the small window of opportunity closes on improved cross-strait relations, a panel of academics said yesterday, touting Taiwan’s democracy as its most effective leverage over China.
Ma’s approach to China, often lambasted by the green camp as denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty, was highly praised by the panelists, describing the tactic as “strategic, smart and appropriate,” which not only promotes the pressing interests of Taiwan such as augmentation of international space, but also serves the interests of the US and China.
“There is a consensus of support [in Washington] of what Ma is doing,” said Derek Mitchell, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), adding that Taiwan lost the political tug-of-war against China 30 years ago when Washington and Tokyo cut relations with Taipei.
IMPASSE
The diplomatic impasse between China and Taiwan has prompted both sides to shower small countries, especially in the Pacific region, with money in exchange for recognition.
The practice has tarnished Taiwan’s reputation and sparked protest from some countries, such as Australia, Mitchell said.
So far China has not made any significant moves to indicate whether it would accept Ma’s invitation to enter into a truce, but the fact that Ascuncion had not switched sides as its president had threatened to do during his campaign was evident that China had agreed “ tacitly,” said Douglas Paal, vice president of the Carnegie Endowment Foundation.
Paal, also a former American Institute in Taiwan director, supports the possible controversial visit of Beijing’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) to Taiwan later this month or early next month, and said the visit should not be postponed as many pro-Taiwan academics have suggested.
“It has already been postponed for 60 years,” he said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters who plan to protest against Chen’s visit, he said, should ponder how the Chinese would view such a protest.
Such a display could be seen as merely a rally for more pro-green support in Taiwan.
What DPP supporters should think about, Paal said, is what is best for Taiwan’s national interests.
The panelists, however, all evaded the question on whether there were any drawbacks or danger to Taiwan’s democracy in Ma’s “diplomatic truce” when the question was raised by Taipei Times.
Paal also chalked up the recent China-originated toxic milk powder as “growing pains” that many developed nations, such as the US, have had to experience, citing the corrupt US meat industry in the late 19th century.
Hong Tsai-lung (洪蔡隆), associate research fellow at the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research, urged that in the effort to normalize economic ties with Beijing, “Taiwan subjective awareness” (台灣主體意識) must be carefully considered and warned that Taiwan’s asymmetric trade dependence on China may limit Taiwan’s leverage in negotiating with Beijing.
COMMON MARKET
“Advocates for a cross-strait common-market ... have failed to address this deep worry,” he said.
He said the common-market idea, as proposed by Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), will do harm to Taiwan unless China promises not to boycott the signing of free-trade agreements (FTA) between Taiwan and other countries.
Charles Freeman, CSIS Freeman Chair in China Studies, said “whether we like it or not, an FTA between Washington and Taipei is unlikely unless Beijing acquiesces.”
Freeman said Taiwan should bolster its economic muscle by shaping itself as “go-between — a place for foreign corporations to build equity to get to China,” he said.
In terms of bilateral military affairs, Bonnie Glaser, senior associate at CSIS, said both sides should establish mutually beneficial confidence building as well as accident avoidance measures, such as a military hotline, to further reduce tension in the Strait.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
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