Beijing finds “useful idiots” in every country as a means of confronting the West, an analyst said yesterday when commenting on a rumored meeting between former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) tomorrow.
The meeting in Beijing would coincide with US President Joe Biden’s summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Washington.
Ma is being used as a pawn to arouse anti-Japan sentiment and advocate for unification with Taiwan, and could be discarded by the Chinese Communist Party at any time, said retired major general Yu Tsung-chi (余宗基), who served as the dean of the National Defense University’s Fu Hsing Kang College.
Photo courtesy of the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation
Beijing is attempting to arouse memories of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) eight-year war of resistance against Japan in the first half of the 20th century, to elicit a sense of solidarity with the modern KMT and erode Taiwan’s relationship with Japan and the US, Yu told a radio talk show.
If Ma and Xi meet tomorrow, it would directly precede the Biden-Kishida summit, he said, adding that China always finds “useful idiots” in other countries to further its goals.
Not only Taiwanese, but also Chinese do not want to talk about Ma, fearing an association with “Chinese independence,” with “even Chinese companies shunning him,” Yu said.
Xi is using Ma as a pawn to present Japan as the common enemy of both sides of the Taiwan Strait, he said.
Xi knows it would be difficult to act against Taiwan militarily with Taipei’s defenses and the backing of its partners, which makes unification Beijing’s preferred option, he said.
The timing of the proposed meeting also coincides with the 45th anniversary of the US’ Taiwan Relations Act, Yu said.
The US is seeking to pull Japan into its plans to ensure stability in the Strait, with rumors that Washington is to appoint a four-star general in Japan to lead joint operations between the countries, he said.
This is a clear message to China that if it uses force against Taiwan, it would have to deal with the US and Japan, as well as US forces in the Philippines and South Korea, he added.
Meanwhile, the KMT is attempting to show it has open channels of communication with Beijing and Washington by sending KMT Vice Chairman Andrew Hsia (夏立言) to the US at the same time as Ma is in China, he said.
The Democratic Progressive Party has not done this, but “everyone knows” it is because China has chosen to give the KMT this platform, he added.
A second Ma-Xi meeting following their first in 2015 would be a major blow to Ma and the KMT, Yu said.
The party rarely criticizes Ma’s hypocrisy, “making it clear who is the one really defending the nation’s sovereignty,” he said.
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