Thu, Mar 30, 2006 page3

• Koo says that Ma's trip harmed Taiwan

  • By Ko Shu-ling / STAFF REPORTER
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  Describing the remarks made by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) during his US trip as "unacceptable," Senior Advisor to the President Koo Kuan-min (辜寬敏) said yesterday that Ma's just-concluded visit had done more harm than good to Taiwan.

  "I have no idea whether he speaks on behalf of Taiwan or Beijing," Koo told the Taipei Times in an exclusive interview yesterday.

  Commenting on the idea of a modus vivendi, or a temporary accommodation of a disagreement between parties pending a permanent settlement, which Ma proposed as a means of resolving the problem of Taiwan's suppressed international presence, Koo questioned whether Beijing could be trusted to honor a temporary accord before a permanent settlement was reached.

  "China and the UK signed an agreement to maintain the status quo in Hong Kong for 50 years, but more than 500,000 people in Hong Kong took to the streets in protest two years after the handover," Koo said. "Tibet also signed an agreement with Beijing, but China still kills and jails Tibetan monks and burns their temples."

  What guarantee does a temporary agreement signed between Taipei and Beijing give to Taiwan, Koo asked.

  "Even if such an accord were signed, anybody with common sense knows that Beijing has more to gain by to annexing Taiwan than by honoring its promise," Koo said. "If such a mechanism could bring peace to the Taiwan Strait, it would have been established a long time ago."

  Koo also pointed out that Beijing would always show the cold shoulder to any Taiwanese proposal to resolve the cross-strait dispute unless the nation accepted the "one China" principle.

  If someone out of touch with the cross-strait situation suggested that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration could resolve the nation's disagreements with China without accepting the "one China" principle, Koo said that he would have laughed at their naivete. But for a politician well-versed in cross-strait politics to suggest such a thing was ridiculous, he said.

  Commenting on Ma's request to meet with Chen, Kuo said that the move, while in line with common courtesy, lacked any real meaning.

  Referring to the cancelation of the DPP debate on China policies, Koo said that the event should not have been scheduled in the first place because President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had already adjusted the cross-strait trade and economic strategy from "active opening, effective management" to "active management, effective opening" in his New Year address.

  "The address was like the president saying goodbye to his old self and beginning to walk his own path," Koo said. "A party policy debate would only have been necessary if the president had insisted on pushing incorrect polices."

  Koo also dismissed speculation that the cancelation of the policy debate was a sign that Chen was losing his grip on the party, saying that people who claimed this was the case were "sowing discord to serve their private interests."
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