The administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has been weak in its response to tainted products imported from China and has failed to act as the government of a sovereign country.
Straits Exchange Foundation Deputy Chairman Kao Koong-lian (高孔廉) recently announced that China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait’s “voluntary” move to inform Taipei after Chinese authorities discovered the contaminated milk powder was representative of Beijing’s goodwill toward Taiwan.
However, Gao Qiang (高強), secretary of the Chinese Communist Party branch at China’s Ministry of Health, took advantage of the issue to refer to Taiwan as “the Taiwan area of our country” in describing the spread of contaminated milk powder. The only thing the Ma administration did in response to this misrepresentation was to say in a roundabout way that referring to Taiwan in this way was “inappropriate” and that it hoped Beijing would restrict its party and government officials from using similar expressions.
When Taiwan informed the WHO that some products manufactured in Taiwan using contaminated milk powder from China had been sold to Hong Kong, the global body sent its response to China, with only a carbon copy forwarded to Taipei. When the Qingdao-based Shandong Duqing Company and the Chinese government both denied that Duqing products contained melamine, the Ma government was terrified of demanding that China conduct a thorough investigation into the matter the way Japan did after tainted dumplings were imported from China.
Even more pathetic was the way Taiwan lowered its testing standards so they would be in line with those in China. These are all signs of a government that is willing to belittle itself and call itself a local Chinese authority.
Despite these nightmares, the Ma administration continues to fawn over China. The administration said it hoped Chinese tourists would help improve Taiwan’s ailing economy, real estate sector and stock market. It is also talking about “improving” Taiwanese universities by allowing Chinese students to study here. The government is pinning all its hopes on China rather than seeking to understand the underlying problems with our nation’s economy and educational system.
Ma is also afraid of calling himself “president” in front of Chinese officials and has told representatives of China-based Taiwanese businesspeople that their becoming members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference would be a positive development. His proposal for meaningful participation for Taiwan in UN agencies rather than full membership was discarded in a matter of minutes.
After hearing Ma’s handling of and statements on the sovereignty issue, the public has begun to wonder whether Taiwan will still be able to hold a presidential election in 2012.
“Power rests with the people” has always been the most important of democratic principles. When it comes to major national decisions, constitutional amendments and sovereignty issues, decisions are not made by government officials and the legislature alone: The public must also be allowed to express its opinion through the democratic process. Many European countries organized referendums on whether to accept the euro, sign the Maastricht Treaty and approve the EU Constitution, because these issues involved aspects of sovereignty.
Shouldn’t Taiwanese demand that any government decision that could harm the sovereignty of their country be put to a referendum rather than be left to politicians to decide?
Hwang Shiow-duan is a political science professor at Soochow University.
TRANSLATED BY DREW CAMERON AND PERRY SVENSSON
The first Donald Trump term was a boon for Taiwan. The administration regularized the arms sales process and enhanced bilateral ties. Taipei will not be so fortunate the second time around. Given recent events, Taiwan must proceed with the assumption that it cannot count on the United States to defend it — diplomatically or militarily — during the next four years. Early indications suggested otherwise. The nomination of Marco Rubio as US Secretary of State and the appointment of Mike Waltz as the national security advisor, both of whom have expressed full-throated support for Taiwan in the past, raised hopes that
Whether in terms of market commonality or resource similarity, South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co is the biggest competitor of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC). The two companies have agreed to set up factories in the US and are also recipients of subsidies from the US CHIPS and Science Act, which was signed into law by former US president Joe Biden. However, changes in the market competitiveness of the two companies clearly reveal the context behind TSMC’s investments in the US. As US semiconductor giant Intel Corp has faced continuous delays developing its advanced processes, the world’s two major wafer foundries, TSMC and
There is nothing the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) could do to stop the tsunami-like mass recall campaign. KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) reportedly said the party does not exclude the option of conditionally proposing a no-confidence vote against the premier, which the party later denied. Did an “actuary” like Chu finally come around to thinking it should get tough with the ruling party? The KMT says the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is leading a minority government with only a 40 percent share of the vote. It has said that the DPP is out of touch with the electorate, has proposed a bloated
Authorities last week revoked the residency permit of a Chinese social media influencer surnamed Liu (劉), better known by her online channel name Yaya in Taiwan (亞亞在台灣), who has more than 440,000 followers online and is living in Taiwan with a marriage-based residency permit, for her “reunification by force” comments. She was asked to leave the country in 10 days. The National Immigration Agency (NIA) on Tuesday last week announced the decision, citing the influencer’s several controversial public comments, including saying that “China does not need any other reason to reunify Taiwan with force” and “why is it [China] hesitant
RSS