Ma favors PRC, not Taiwan
A day after China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) wrapped up his four-day whirlwind trip around the nation on June 28, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) left the country on a tour of Central America as part of his “Promoting Friendship Project.”
During his trip, Ma attended new Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela’s inauguration, where he got to shake hands with US Secretary of State John Kerry and held a dinner for Taiwanese expatriates, before going on to El Salvador to visit recently inaugurated Salvadoran President Salvador Sanchez Ceren.
On his way home in San Francisco, more than 300 overseas Taiwanese and Chinese at the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association in San Francisco on Friday last week, before making a transit stop in Hawaii on Saturday.
After returning to Taiwan, the president boasted that his seven-day trip had been a great success, neglecting to mention the Panamanian press gaffe in which a photograph of Zhang was used to accompany an article about Ma.
A review of this so-called Promoting Friendship Project reveals that of the 300 attendees at Ma’s dinner party in Panama, 80 percent were Chinese, while in San Francisco, most of the guests were pan-blue camp supporters. This shows that the aim of “promoting friendship” was focused on pan-blue supporters and Chinese, with a few other individuals thrown in as an embellishment.
Fortunately, there was one dissenting voice to greet Ma in California. When the president arrived in San Francisco at 10am on Thursday last week, in a press conference led by attorney Cheng Wen-lung (鄭文龍), the 22 members of the Taiwan Jury Association and Bay Area Taiwanese Community representatives at the Ramada Inn in Sunnyvale.
I was the final speaker at the conference and asked the president: “President Ma, where are your political achievements?”
In my closing remarks, I satirized the diplomacy trip’s title in Mandarin, the Xingyi Project (興誼之旅), to question Ma. I started with xing in the sense of to stir up trouble (興風作浪), saying that soon after the president embarked on his trip, he blamed Greater Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) for choosing Sizihwen Sunset Beach Resort as the location of the second meeting between Zhang and Mainland Affairs Council Minister Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦). However, the council confirmed that it had made the decision, not Chen.
I then went on to yi (誼中賣台), meaning friendly to China, but betraying Taiwan. After Ma landed in Panama he accused Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of planning the protests against Zhang’s visit, but that is not true.
It is very unprofessional and unethical for a president to criticize an opposition leader while on an overseas trip, especially when he uses taxpayers’ money to party with Chinese expatriates.
My third point was zhi (中國至上), in the sense of putting China first. At the end of last month, Ma pointed a finger at the Tokyo National Museum for the absence of the word “national” from promotional posters for the National Palace Museum’s exhibition in the Japanese capital.
The president made a fuss over this, but was fine with pulling down the Republic of China flag wherever Zhang went in Taiwan and flying the Chinese flag instead.
My final point was lu (屢次跳票), which I used to refer to Ma’s promises and policies which never come to fruition.
The president’s “6-3-3” campaign pledge has remained unfulfilled since he was first elected.
Ma chided former president Chen Shui-bian (A-bian, 陳水扁) when he was in power because college students were earning an average of NT$26,000 a month, but Ma is proud of his NTS$22,000 policy.
Ma condemned A-bian for having an approval rating of 18 percent, but is not ashamed of his much lower rating of 9 percent.
In terms of political achievements, Ma has tried his best to curry favor with China and in doing so has trampled Taiwan. This stance was reflected throughout his trip, which revealed his favoritism toward China to all who cared to look.
John Hsieh
Hayward, California
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