Tue, Jul 12, 2011 page8

• LETTER

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  Nothing to brag about

  Recently, former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) endorsed Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) for president and called on the public to “abandon [President] Ma [Ying-jeou (馬英九)] and save Taiwan.” Not surprisingly then, last week, Lee and a former aide were indicted on charges of embezzling state funds from 1988 to 2000.

  The latest survey by the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) just so happens to show Tsai leading Ma in southern Taiwan, pan-blue-leaning Keelung and New Taipei City (新北市), and gaining ground in central Taiwan. It further showed significant overall dissatisfaction with the Ma government. Given these circumstances, it isn’t shocking that Ma has to deny accusations that his administration has compromised the independence of the judiciary.

  As president, Lee publicized the diplomatic isolation of Taiwan. In 1996, his description of Taiwan-China relations as “special state-to-state” in nature demonstrated that Taiwan did not necessarily have to surrender itself to the tyranny of “one China.” Lee’s courageous leadership became more apparent in his prioritization of “Taiwan-first” thinking to promote identification with the history and ongoing democratization specific to the country. Beijing subsequently labeled and continues to denigrate Lee as “scum of the nation.” Ma’s indifference to and possible facilitation of Lee’s indictment, which coincides with his own anti-corruption re-election tactics, merely confirm Ma’s fundamental disregard for democratization.

  Though apparently impervious to corruption, Ma, like his Chinese Communist Party (CCP) compatriots, habitually distorts the consequences of his policies. Ma insists that he protects the de facto independence of Taiwan within the “one China, different interpretations” framework that Beijing refutes. Just recently Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesperson Yang Yi (楊毅) said that cross-strait relations have never been nation-to-nation. His statement confirms that the CCP thinks of itself as the sole legitimate, central government of China, including the province of Taiwan.

  Despite the TAO’s statement, Ma persists in his deceit. According to Ma, “the Chinese Nationalist Party’s [KMT] cross-strait policy is beneficial to the people” and “with four more years in office, my administration would be able to further improve our economy and the lives of our people.”

  Since 2009, the economy has grown by approximately 10 percent, but income disparity between the wealthiest and most destitute in society has increased as well. Rural development has been meager and although Japan continues to grapple with the consequences of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant meltdown, the KMT-dominated legislature just passed a budget for the continued construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant.

  The Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) benefits society, but it also increases Taiwan’s dependency on the Chinese economy. Ma touts economics as central to supposedly already peaceful cross-strait relations. He considers the competitive Taiwanese economy as thus far his most enduring presidential achievement. Yet, although Ma presents the ECFA as the most feasible, if not the exclusive, way to strengthen the economic and thus the political clout of Taiwan, Taipei has only signed one free-trade agreement (FTA), with Singapore, since the ECFA’s implementation. This happened with, and only because of, Chinese approval.

  The FTA between South Korea and the EU further undermines Ma’s credibility. South Korea and Taiwan underwent initial democratization in the 1980s. Currently, the China-US dynamic greatly influences the domestic politics of both nations. Despite these commonalities between South Korea and Taiwan, and taking into consideration vast differences as well, Ma nevertheless comes up short on initiative and conviction to push even his “non-political” economic agendas. Even European Economic and Trade Office acting head Tamas Maczak said that relative to South Korea and India, “Taiwan started a little bit late” in FTA negotiations with the EU.

  Taiwanese voters shouldn’t support Ma’s lethargy and incompetence for another four years. After all, in 2008 Ma campaigned on the strength of his economic blueprint — presented as the “Salmon Plan” to evoke hopeful similarities between the fish, reenergized following their return home, and the economy. Ostensibly, after Ma’s landslide election, the economy revitalized itself by “returning” to its Chinese origins via the ECFA. Ma forgot to mention that after the return home to reproduce, salmon decline physically at an accelerated rate, and very quickly die.

  Sophia Solivio

  Northampton, Massachusetts
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