China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS,
Why pick Macau over Hong Kong? Macau does enjoy some obvious advantages as a site for under-the-table contacts between Taiwan and China. For one thing, the people of Macau are relatively disinterested in China's political affairs. Since Macau plays a much less significant economic and political role on the international stage compared with Hong Kong, it is often overlooked by the media. Then there is the convenient cover provided by Macau's casinos for "unexplained" trips by relevant officials across the Strait. The fact that people from Taiwan can stay in Macau for up to 20 days without a visitor's visa, provides an ease of travel and anonymity rarely enjoyed by Taiwan's officials.
Will Macau replace Hong Kong as the new cross-strait conduit? Not necessary. However, there certainly is room for Macau to play a more important role -- partly because of what has been happening in Hong Kong over the last few years. Since its return to Beijing's control in 1997, Hong Kong has been blending in to China a little too well, succumbing to Beijing's every wish.
Taiwan has simply had too many unpleasant experiences with Hong Kong for it to act as a cross-strait conduit any longer. For example, the territory's government delayed granting a visa to Chang Liang-jen (
Very possibly, Beijing may wish to start with a clean slate in Macau. This notion was reinforced by the Macau government's recent request that Taiwan's unofficial representative office in the enclave, the Taipei Trade and Cultural Office (TTCO), begin issuing visas.
How should the Taiwan government react to all this? A wait-and-see attitude is perhaps the wisest approach. After all, the fundamental deadlock between the two sides of the Strait remains Beijing's insistence on the "one China" principle and acceptance of "one country, two systems." As long as Beijing continues to demand Taiwan accept the principal as a precondition to dialogue, the two sides cannot begin talking, irrespective of where ARATS opens its branch offices.
It is also probably wishful thinking to interpret ARATS' move as a goodwill gesture. ARATS didn't bother to let either the Straits Exchange Foundation or TTCO know about the opening of its Macao office. Instead, during the opening ceremony for the office, ARATS Secretary-General Sun Yafu (
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