Over the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday, both President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) were overseas, visiting South America and China respectively. While Ma used the opportunity to “trace his roots” and pay respects to his ancestors across the Taiwan Strait, Tsai was seeking to bolster diplomatic relations by visiting Guatemala and Belize, and was yesterday to meet with US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
They demonstrate contrasting approaches to Taiwan, a non-normalized country also known as the Republic of China (ROC).
While Tsai was busy reinforcing Taiwan’s image as a nation, Ma was echoing Beijing’s “one China” principle, and telling Chinese he had served as “this” to avoid calling himself the former president of the ROC. With a family full of members with US nationality and a previous green card holder himself, Ma seemed to have no qualms identifying with the “Zhonghua minzu” (中華民族, Chinese nation). This is not unlike the behavior of Chinese expatriates living in the US who are paid to disrupt and protest Tsai’s trip to New York.
As a former member of the Coalition Against Communism, Ma was accused of making his way to the top by ratting out others while a student, cashing in on being “anti-communist.” After failing to win the nomination as the running mate of former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (連戰) or People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), Ma finally made it to the Presidential Office for two terms after former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) left office under a cloud of ignominy.
When Ma and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Singapore in 2015, Ma’s agreement to a version of the so-called “1992 consensus” that did not adhere to the principle of “one China, with respective interpretations” killed what was left of the Taiwanese public’s misplaced trust in him.
While running for Taipei mayor, former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) raised Ma’s arm in a show of support, calling him a “Taiwanese.” Ma appeared to have sided with the “non-Chinese” camp, an act of betrayal in the eyes of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It is no wonder he was called “Ma the bumbler” by The Economist. The description laid bare Ma’s character: a political opportunist who can go from an “anti-communism” to “pro-China” supporter.
As Taiwan has become a vibrant democracy no longer under KMT control, the last thing Ma should expect is to raise his stakes and bargain his “retirement” with the CCP by acting as its mouthpiece. During his trip to China, he even complimented Beijing’s COVID-19 prevention efforts, a selfish act that completely disregarded the feelings and sentiments of the “waishengren” (外省人) — those who came from China with the KMT after the Chinese Civil War and their offspring — who identify as Taiwanese.
Ma’s visit to Nanjing conveniently circumvented any historical site concerned with the Chinese Civil War. At the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, the People’s Republic of China even “put an end” to the ROC’s “38-year regime,” with an inscription on one of the monuments stating: “ROC 1912-1949.”
Ma chose to pay respects to those who died in the Nanjing Massacre, but ignored the KMT forces who died in the Chinese Civil War. How is Ma different from the veterans who brought shame to themselves and their nation by traveling to Beijing to kowtow to Chinese leaders? It is no wonder the KMT was crushed by the communists.
Ma gave a poor example when he compared Taiwan and China to France and Germany to illustrate how two rivals managed to set aside their differences. China has never regarded Taiwan as a country. From rivals to fellow EU members, Germany and France are equals and their friendship has revealed the historical development of two civilized countries.
Taiwan and China can always have congenial diplomatic relations, but it is China that has issues with settling for anything less than unification.
Ma has demonstrated none of the democratic values that are the hallmark of Taiwan and has only been fawning to a party that has “put an end” to his own. Former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) is turning in his grave over how low Ma has sunk and what a bootlicker he has become. From anti-communist to pro-communist, Ma has only experienced good things with the CCP that he has become its most loyal servant. It was hypocritical of him to visit the mausoleums at Tzuhu (慈湖) and Touliao (頭寮). It is no wonder that some have proposed that Ma offer himself as a “gift” to China and just stay there once and for all.
Lee Min-yung is a poet.
Translated by Rita Wang
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