Is Taiwan moving backwards in time to the era before democracy was introduced in Taiwan? Apparently yes, if we shall trust Ma’s statements that Taiwan is the legitimate ruler of China including the People’s Republic of China. In addition, the International Federation of Journalist (IFJ) has accused the government of interfering in reports from state-owned media.
Some will argue that the remarks about China hardly can come as a surprise to the Taiwanese or the world. The Taiwanese voted the DPP government out because of the economy but put a blind eye to a possible unification with China. The world on the other hand has continued the one China policy in the hope that Taiwan finally will give up and join the PRC, thus solving the embarrassing problem of balancing friendliness toward China with limited support to democratic Taiwan.
KMT has made it clear from the beginning that it supports the so-called 1992 consensus. The consensus has never been written down but stems from a press conference. At this press conference both KMT and PRC adhered to the one China policy.
The recent statement by President Ma that Taiwan’s relationship to China is “a special relationship, but not a relationship between states” degrading Taiwan to a ‘region’ is thus fully in line with the policy of KMT. Ma talked about a Mainland region and a Taiwan region.
In addition, Ma has stated to a Japanese magazine that the ROC “definitely is an independent sovereign state, and mainland China is also part of the territory of the ROC”.
It is hard not to see this as breakaway from the promises made during Ma election campaign that there will be no unification during his term in office. Or shall this be understood as there can be talk about unification and statements about one country but no legal signature of unification? The question is what does these statements mean for Taiwan and for the cross strait talks.
KMT wants a common market with China. The question is what will be Taiwan’s legal position in such a market and how will Taiwan’s position be interpreted internationally in this market? Unless Taiwan becomes an independent country, it will be a Hong Kong solution and will be interpreted as such internationally.
Many questions remain open and the next years will show the direction the KMT government will take Taiwan and how the people of Taiwan will react. The Taiwanese do not support unification except for a small minority. Thus, it appears that the government is out of touch with its own population on a matter of very high importance – the international status of Taiwan.
Is the press freedom being reduced in Taiwan? It is troublesome to observe that the International Federation of Journalist (IFJ) has criticized the Taiwanese government of interfering in the report from Taiwan’s state-own media. The IFJ says that the Central News Agency has be asked to withdraw a story critical of President Ma Ying-jeou and changed reports about milk powder imported from China that was contaminated with melamine.
KMT is an admirer of Singapore’s clean government. However, has the admiration now expanded to other parts of Singapore authoritarian rule such as control of the press?
These days as we hear about the new government’s “pragmatic approach” one ought to question whether such an explanation is pragmatic and corresponds to the reality of Taiwan and the Taiwanese society anno 2008. The Taiwanese people have been fighting for democracy and for their country. That is not something you give up easily.
