It appears the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government would say anything in an attempt to gain public support for its proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China.
Latest case in point: President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) linking the ECFA to China removing its missiles aimed at Taiwan.
“We believe China will face mounting pressure from both Taiwan and the international community to handle the missiles, because no one will understand why China has missiles targeting Taiwan if it is doing business with us,” Ma said in a recent interview with the Central News Agency as he touted the benefit of signing an ECFA with Beijing.
Aside from being naive, the remark also takes wishful thinking to a whole new level of absurdity. It is even more spine-chilling to know that such naivete comes from the nation’s commander-in-chief, who is leaving Taiwan’s national security at the mercy of his own ignorance and China’s unfounded goodwill.
In case Ma hasn’t noticed, Taiwan and China have already engaged in many trade exchanges over the past decade. According to the CIA World Factbook, “since 2005 China has overtaken the US to become Taiwan’s second-largest source of imports after Japan. China is also the island’s No. 1 destination for foreign direct investment.”
Have all these cross-strait trade relations dampened China’s military aggression and led to the removal of missiles aimed at Taiwan? The answer is no. Instead, China has increased the number of tactical ballistic missiles deployed across the Strait. Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) in February last year put the number of missiles at more than 1,500 — a huge increase from 200 just 10 years ago.
While it is worth noting that Ma may have forgotten his pledge to demand that China remove the missiles aimed at Taiwan before negotiating any cross-strait accords, the truth is that even if China did decide to remove the missiles in exchange for an ECFA, such an action would not alleviate the military threat, as the missiles are mobile and can be redeployed easily and quickly.
Ma has also spoken of “putting aside the issue of unification” when conducting talks with Beijing. However, the question is: Is China putting aside the unification issue? Again, the answer is no. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) made it clear in a talk in March before the National People’s Congress that signing an ECFA with Taiwan remains a priority as he flaunted how the Chinese government would continue developing cross-strait relations “to realize the ultimate goal of peaceful national unification.”
Could Ma’s national security advisory team be so incompetent that it failed to report all of this to Ma? Could Ma be so busy doubling as KMT chairman and engineering November’s special municipality elections that he hadn’t had time to read the newspaper and stay informed? Or has he simply chosen to ignore the obvious and deceive the public with illusions so long as there is the possibility of an ECFA being inked with China? Ma, as the head of state, he should stop talking irresponsibly and wishfully.
China has never wavered on its stance to annex Taiwan, and it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that everything China does as it seeks to sign an ECFA with Taiwan is aimed at bringing Taiwan into its fold. In view of China’s unceasing aggression and machinations, the last thing a president of Taiwan needs is naivete.
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