In an interview published recently in the Chinese-language magazine Wealth, which focuses on financial affairs, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) especially pointed out misunderstandings he believes the media have had about him for a long time now.
Ma said that he has never said that he cares about going down in history as the person who facilitated unification between Taiwan and China, but that he is concerned with how he is perceived in history.
During the interview, Ma stated his intent more clearly by saying that he wants to be remembered as the leader of the government that brought about the most peaceful and stable period in cross-strait relations since 1949.
That peace and stability is based on the concepts of the “1992 consensus” and “one China, with different interpretations” and so, Ma hopes to use a meeting between himself and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to consolidate these concepts and turn them into a “highly stable framework” for dialogue.
During the interview, Ma added that this is the only path of action available and that it is something that cannot be pushed. This is supposed to mean that’s all there is to a meeting between Ma and Xi and that there is no need for us to worry.
However, Ma has lost all his credibility, not just domestically, but also internationally.
Since coming into office, Xi has cracked down on corruption within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and this has met with resistance from within the CCP.
Under Ma’s leadership, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has become involved in a whole series of corruption scandals and these without a doubt provide very good ammunition to mock Ma for those within the CCP unhappy with Xi’s crackdown on corruption.
Also, it is now evident that China knows full well that the political situation in Taiwan cannot be decided on by one person or one party.
Just what sort of extra costs will have to be paid when such a person or such party begs for audience with a much stronger other? This is something that we will have to pay close attention to.
Furthermore, the CCP has never agreed with the idea of “one China, with different interpretations” and has constantly stressed that there is no room for discussion when it comes to the “one China” principle.
Xi offended a huge number of people within the CCP during his crackdown on corruption, so why would Xi back down on the “one China” principle just for some political hack from Taiwan and give those inside the CCP an excuse to pick fault with him?
Xi has already gotten himself into all sorts of strife over the issue of meeting with Ma. For Ma to expect Xi to make a clear concession and agree to the idea of “one China, with different interpretations” is absolutely delusional.
Christian Fan Jiang is deputy secretary-general of the Northern Taiwan Society.
Translated by Drew Cameron
The EU’s biggest banks have spent years quietly creating a new way to pay that could finally allow customers to ditch their Visa Inc and Mastercard Inc cards — the latest sign that the region is looking to dislodge two of the most valuable financial firms on the planet. Wero, as the project is known, is now rolling out across much of western Europe. Backed by 16 major banks and payment processors including BNP Paribas SA, Deutsche Bank AG and Worldline SA, the platform would eventually allow a German customer to instantly settle up with, say, a hotel in France
On August 6, Ukraine crossed its northeastern border and invaded the Russian region of Kursk. After spending more than two years seeking to oust Russian forces from its own territory, Kiev turned the tables on Moscow. Vladimir Putin seemed thrown off guard. In a televised meeting about the incursion, Putin came across as patently not in control of events. The reasons for the Ukrainian offensive remain unclear. It could be an attempt to wear away at the morale of both Russia’s military and its populace, and to boost morale in Ukraine; to undermine popular and elite confidence in Putin’s rule; to
A traffic accident in Taichung — a city bus on Sept. 22 hit two Tunghai University students on a pedestrian crossing, killing one and injuring the other — has once again brought up the issue of Taiwan being a “living hell for pedestrians” and large vehicle safety to public attention. A deadly traffic accident in Taichung on Dec. 27, 2022, when a city bus hit a foreign national, his Taiwanese wife and their one-year-old son in a stroller on a pedestrian crossing, killing the wife and son, had shocked the public, leading to discussions and traffic law amendments. However, just after the
The international community was shocked when Israel was accused of launching an attack on Lebanon by rigging pagers to explode. Most media reports in Taiwan focused on whether the pagers were produced locally, arousing public concern. However, Taiwanese should also look at the matter from a security and national defense perspective. Lebanon has eschewed technology, partly because of concerns that countries would penetrate its telecommunications networks to steal confidential information or launch cyberattacks. It has largely abandoned smartphones and modern telecommunications systems, replacing them with older and relatively basic communications equipment. However, the incident shows that using older technology alone cannot
RSS