By Peter Hannaford on 5.23.08 @ 12:07AM
Our correspondent covers the inauguration of the new president, Ma Ying-jeou, who's getting along nicely with mainland China.
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Nearly 60 years ago, the Republic of China's
government, after losing a civil war to Mao Tse-tung's Communists,
fled to this island, along with more than a million followers.
Under the Nationalist (Kuomintang) party it ruled, first
autocratically, then finally as a multi-party democracy until 2000.
That year, the voters, tired of the KMT, replaced it with the
pro-independence Democratic People's Party.
This March, after eight years of the erratic leadership of
President Chen Shui-bian and a series of corruption scandals
involving his administration, the KMT's ticket of Ma Ying-jeou as
president and Vincent Siew as vice-president, swamped the DPP. (The
KMT had already won nearly three quarters of the seats in the
legislature in January.)
As a parting "gift," Chen's administration handed the new
government one last scandal: two middlemen, picked to pay Papua New
Guinea $29.8 million to restore its diplomatic relations with
Taiwan, were caught apparently pocketing the grease-the-skids
money. During Chen's second term his wife and several cabinet
ministers and aides were indicted for corruption and, now out of
office, he may be, too.
In a very democratic, inclusive, and exuberant inauguration on
Tuesday, President Ma signaled that his administration will enter
into a new era with the China mainland, with the emphasis on
expanded cooperation between the two while simultaneously calling
for eliminating tensions between Taiwan and the Communist
mainland.
This tall, confident Harvard graduate shows just how much times
have changed. As recently as 30 years ago, the rhetorical emphasis
on Taiwan was on "national recovery." That is, taking back the
mainland. This was widely proclaimed on street banners and
posters.
In those days, the Kuomintang was largely a party of those who
had fled the mainland after the civil war, and their descendants,
while the majority of the population was made up of descendants of
immigrants from the mainland in the early 19th century and
considered "Taiwanese." The DPP was largely a Taiwanese party and
reflected the fact that most Taiwanese had few ties to the
mainland; hence, their interest in independence for the island.
As President, Chen Shui-bian was unpredictable, often publicly
thumbing his nose at mainland China. This always produced a loud,
negative reaction from Beijing, with much gong-banging and
rocket-rattling. Military forces along the coast were beefed up,
hinting at an invasion of Taiwan if it went too far.
The United States is required to abide by its Taiwan Relations
Act. In the event Taiwan were to be attacked, we would have to
defend it. Chen's zigs and zags caused collective tooth-grinding at
the State Department. What the U.S. most wanted, and didn't get, in
the DPP years, was predictability and stability in the Taiwan
Strait. What it got was uncertainty. Neither Beijing nor we wanted
-- or could afford -- a shooting war there.
The Kuomintang, revived after years out of office, has
reinvented itself, with a much greater Taiwanese membership (Vice
President Siew is Taiwanese) and a sophisticated outlook on
cross-Strait relations.
No sooner had Dr. Ma been elected than he sent Vice
President-elect Siew to Hainan, a resort island off the south China
coast, ostensibly to a conference where "coincidentally" he met
with PRC President Hu Jintao. The two discussed moving forward with
long-stalled plans for regular direct charter flights between
Taiwan and the mainland. Next week, the KMT's chairman will be in
Beijing to sign a formal agreement to launch every-weekend flights
beginning in July. Currently, there are flights only a few times a
year on particular holidays. The ROC estimates that the number of
annual mainland visitors will increase from 80,000 to nearly one
million.
Until now the Communist government in Beijing has exerted steady
pressure on Taiwan to "cry uncle" and be absorbed. It has routinely
tried to lure the two dozen countries that diplomatically recognize
Taiwan into switching sides. It has also kept Taiwan from obtaining
"observer" status in the World Health Organization.
In his inaugural address before an enthusiastic audience of
10,000, President Ma said, "I sincerely hope that the two sides of
the Taiwan Strait can seize this historic opportunity to achieve
peace and co-prosperity." He foresees a bilateral agreement
building on what is called the Consensus of 1992 (i.e., "one China,
two respective interpretations"). Former President Chen rejected
that document. Ma also set down three "no's"-- no unification, no
independence, no use of force--during his presidency. He said
Taiwan wants not only security and prosperity, "it wants dignity,"
meaning that in a new period of cordiality and cooperation it wants
the mainland to lay off trying to isolate it.
Patience is a characteristic often attributed to Chinese people.
A call for patience was the underlying motif of the new president's
address and, so far, it seems to have been well received on the
other side of the Taiwan Strait and in Washington (with a sigh of
relief).
topics:
Military
