Thu, Nov 25, 2010 page8

• Diplomatic acumen is needed to gain space

  • By James Wang 王景弘
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  Taiwan’s only problem in trying to participate in events organized by international organizations is the fact that China has its hands around Taiwan’s throat. If China let go, Taiwan would be able to freely choose which events it would participate in according to the rules of each international organization.

  China, however, does not think this way and instead demands that Taiwan “talk to” Beijing before engaging in any type of international activity, including taking part in non-governmental organizations. According to China, this means gaining permission from and being told what to do by Beijing based on the “one China” principle.

  Taiwan’s government does not know how to handle this situation. In the recent meeting on the sidelines of the APEC summit between Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) and Taiwanese envoy Lien Chan (連戰), which was referred to as a meeting between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the diplomatically challenged Lien did not respond to the demands that Taiwan “talk to” China by clearly stating Taiwan’s position: China has to release its grip on Taiwan’s throat if it wants Taiwan to talk to anyone at all.

  This is a common problem across President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) whole administration. Their acceptance of the “one China” principle has resulted in a slave mentality that makes them “swallow” anything China tells them to do. None of the government’s actions are aimed at upholding Taiwan’s national dignity and all they know how to do is “swallow” every insult. Once the “one China” view becomes the universally accepted truth around the world, Taiwan will simply be “swallowed” up by China.

  By not having a regular membership in international organizations when meeting with other national leaders at international conferences and by turning meetings between Taiwanese and Chinese officials into a “KMT-CCP platform,” the Ma government undermines Taiwan’s national dignity by highlighting its own decay and proving that it does not care about Taiwan’s sovereign interests.

  The KMT likes to compare Taiwan with Singapore and likes to say that if Singapore can do something, then there is no reason why Taiwan shouldn’t be able to do the same. However, the cleverness and intellectual sensitivity of people like Ma and Lien is very different from that of former Singaporean president Lee Kuan Yew (李光耀) and the way he protected Singapore’s sovereign status.

  In 1976, before Lee took up an invite to visit China, he first made a visit to then-US ambassador to Singapore John Holdridge to ask for his advice on how to conduct talks with Beijing. Lee has said that while he understands Chinese, he always used English in his dealings with China because speaking Chinese would lead China into thinking that Singapore is part of China.

  Lee has stressed that Singapore is not a part of China, that it is a different nation and Beijing therefore had to acknowledge that fact.

  When Lien meets with Hu to ask for permission to talk to others, they are both able to chat freely using their native language and this of course strengthens China’s belief that Taiwan is a part of China and that it in the end will “swallow” Taiwan up piece by piece.

  James Wang is a media commentator.

  TRANSLATED BY DREW CAMERON
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