Mon, Apr 22, 2024 page8

• EDITORIAL: KMT visits to China questionable

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  A group of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers led by the party’s legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (?) are to visit Beijing for four days this week, but some have questioned the timing and purpose of the visit, which demonstrates the KMT caucus’ increasing arrogance.

  Fu on Wednesday last week confirmed that following an invitation by Beijing, he would lead a group of lawmakers to China from Thursday to Sunday to discuss tourism and agricultural exports, but he refused to say whether they would meet with Chinese officials.

  That the visit is taking place during the legislative session and in the aftermath of the April 3 earthquake drew criticism that Fu, a legislator elected from Hualien County who is the county’s former commissioner, and other members of the group are neglecting their duties.

  On the other hand, Fu displayed his arrogance by threatening Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers not to hold any voting while they are away, saying that the KMT, which has one seat more than the DPP in the Legislative Yuan, would retaliate.

  In this legislative session that began in February, the KMT caucus has consistently been incompetent and arrogant. In one case, it violated the legislature’s procedures and called for an extraordinary meeting, only to call it an error later and blame a party staff member. There are many other instances, including KMT legislators reprimanding government officials and calling them “subordinates to legislators,” and earlier this month erroneously counting KMT Legislator Sasuyu Ruljuwan (盧縣一) in a vote on pension reform despite him being in China that day, which the party blamed on a Legislative Yuan worker; and proposing to amend laws restricting the allocation of special budgets, then proposing a draft act for the construction of an expressway connecting Hualien and Taitung, which is unconstitutional.

  Moreover, the announced visit is happening just after former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the KMT met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Beijing, where Xi said that “external interference cannot stop the historical trend of reunion of the country and family,” and Ma echoed him by saying people of the two sides of the Strait belong to the Chinese nation.

  The visit is also on the eve of president-elect William Lai (賴清德) of the DPP taking office on May 20 and at a time when Beijing is intensifying its pressure on Taiwan through multifaceted tools of coercion to demonstrate its disapproval of Lai, who it calls a “troublemaker” and a “separatist.”

  Considering there is no urgent agenda and that it is taking place at a sensitive time, the purpose of the visit is questionable.

  Fu and the KMT legislators’ visit seems to serve the same purpose as Ma’s, which served China’s interests by helping it signal to the world that Beijing can be friendly and have peaceful dialogue with Taiwan if the nation accepts the “one China” principle. It would also help the party convey the message to Taiwanese that only the KMT is capable of bringing peace and prosperity across the Taiwan Strait.

  KMT Vice Chairman Andrew Hsia (夏立言) has visited China eight times since he took the post in 2021, and the media have reported that Beijing has invited the party’s other high-ranking officials and Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) to visit this year. Whether KMT politicians’ visits to China are really in Taiwan’s interest, or simply serve Beijing by helping it send the “one China” message to the world, needs to be scrutinized.
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