It seems unlikely that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) before Ma leaves office in 2016, but Xi seems to welcome closer engagement and communication with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), academics said yesterday.
While Ma said last week he does not rule out meeting Xi before the end of his term, which would be headline news if it took place, the timing and location for such a meeting would require sophisticated planning, as would nomenclature for the two at any meeting, professors told a symposium on cross-strait relations organized by Taiwan Competitiveness Forum.
“I haven’t seen Ma trying to generate any positive atmosphere for the historical meeting to happen comparable to what happened before the first Inter-Korea Summit in 2000,” said historian Hsu Tsung-mao (徐宗懋), a former journalist.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
The meeting is not likely to happen unless Ma meets Xi in his capacity as Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman, as there have been several KMT-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) meetings in the past, Taiwan Strategy Research Association president Wang Kun-yi (王崑義) said.
Wang also argued that Taiwan is not high on Xi’s agenda, as he has many other issues to address, such as fighting corruption and political reform, making the meeting less likely to happen.
On the other hand, it seems that the CCP is ready to talk to the DPP without asking the party to recognize the one China framework, as shown by Taiwan Affairs Office Director Zhang Zhijun’s (張志軍) meeting with former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) in Hong Kong recently, Wang added.
“The chance [of a Ma-Xi meeting] is still there. The point is that such a meeting could only be symbolic of friendship rather than substantial,” National Taipei Medical University assistant professor Chang Kuo-cheng (張國城) said.
Even if the meeting takes place, it is not likely that the political division and military standoff across the strait would be eliminated or eased, which means it would not be meaningful, he said.
Reviewing the development of cross-strait relations, Chang said the CCP has had three major achievements.
“First, it made sure that the KMT would be a pro-China party after the KMT-CCP platform was established in 2005. Second, it made sure that Chinese influence would have staying power in Taiwan after the 2008 presidential elections, regardless of which party governs Taiwan,” Chang said.
The third and perhaps the most important achievement, he said, was the establishment of the communication platform between the CCP and Hsieh’s Taiwan Reform Foundation, because “the DPP would not return to its past ideology which insisted on Taiwanese independence.”
However, a more China-friendly DPP does not mean the party would be able to convince both Taiwanese voters and Beijing that it could be trusted in power again, even if Hsieh’s moderate China policy and his advocacy of “two constitutions, different interpretations” becomes the mainstream policy of the DPP, it would still have to compete with the KMT to win Beijing’s favor, he said.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition