The meeting between President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Singapore on Nov. 7 is set to impact upon the engagement between Taiwan’s next leader and Beijing, and redirect US attention to the importance of cross-strait development, according to a US academic.
New York University School of Law professor Jarome Cohen said the summit’s immediate impact would be on the presidential and legislative elections slated for Jan. 16.
“It will result in higher priority to cross-strait relations in the developing electoral dialogue and make voters give somewhat less attention to often-decisive domestic issues,” Cohen said, adding that he believes this might boost the floundering Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) — which is trailing behind the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the polls — to a “modest, but insufficient extent.”
However, he said that the more important impact on Taiwan goes beyond the elections.
Cohen said that the Ma-Xi meeting has had a favorable effect on cross-strait relations, “not by strengthening the impact of Ma’s already-conciliatory policies of the past seven years, but by helping to limit their expected erosion when he leaves the stage.”
“Because of growing Taiwanese nationalism, a crisis in cross-strait relations might re-emerge, no matter who wins the forthcoming elections,” he said. “In that context, the summit represents an important effort to minimize adverse development by offering a channel to continue high-level cross-strait relations.”
He said that by demonstrating equal dignity and status for Taiwan’s leader, China has given DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) — the front-runner in the presidential race — an incentive to meet Xi halfway should she win the presidential election.
However, Cohen said that the price of Tsai’s admission is very likely to be too high for her to accept.
He said that the DPP has always rejected the so-called “1992 consensus” — which the Ma administration perceives as a tacit agreement between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait on “one China,” with each side free to interpret what that means.
He also said that after Tsai consolidates her hold on government, an attempt to organize another cross-strait leaders’ meeting should be made, without the acceptance of any preconditions.
The summit has also had an impact on US relations with both sides of the Taiwan Strait. It has revived, if only temporarily, US awareness of Taiwan and of the importance or cross-strait developments, Chen said.
The US government will undoubtedly want to push back at Xi’s attempt to exclude Washington from the Taiwan puzzle as part of Beijing’s efforts to reduce US influence in Asia, he added.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS