Although widely seen as leaning strongly toward President Ma Ying-jeou's rightist Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) government, the vernacular "China Times" tossed a spanner into Ma's push to secure rapid signing of a bitterly controversial "Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement" with the authoritarian People's Republic of China.
An opinion poll of 802 persons on March 22 published in the China Times Tuesday showed that while nearly 74 percent of those polled knew about the ECFA talks, nearly 70 percent still said they do not feel familiar with its contents after nearly two years of high-profile government propaganda and social debate and a similar poll of 1,105 Taiwan citiznes surveyed by the DPP's Public Survey Center showed that 78 percent said the KMT government has not clearly explained the content and influence of the proposed ECFA.
Less than 43 percent of persons polled by a pro-KMT media said they approved of the KMT government's plan to sign the ECFA with nearly 34 percent opposed and 24 percent unsure, while the DPP survey found that less than 35 percent approved of the signing of an ECFA, while 45.8 percent disapproved and that nearly 53 percent believe the ECFA will harm Taiwan's sovereignty.
These results are fall short of the 60 percent public support which Premier Wu Den-yih publically stated would be necessary for ECFA to be politically feasible.
Moreover, the China Times, just as all pro-KMT media or polling companies, avoided asking the most fundamental question of "do you agree or disagree that the proposed ECFA with the People's Republic of China must be ratified by national citizen referendum?"
The public also endorsed Democratic Progressive Party Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen as the best qualified representative of the Taiwan opposition to debate the ECFA issue.
Tsai has a robust theoretical background in international economics and trade law and rich experience in the negotiations for Taiwan's entry into the World Trade Organization and as chairwoman of the Cabinet-level Mainland Affairs Council, a DPP legislator and vice premier.
Moreover, Tsai's steady and principled leadership of the DPP and her frank and cogent criticism of Ma's policies has earned the DPP chairwoman a considerably higher level of public confidence than the president and KMT chairman in polls by the pro-KMT "Global Views" monthly.
Debate with the boss
Despite the Tsai-Wu pairing in the China Times, it should be clear that Tsai's debate partner should be Ma.
The fact that Ma is continuing to press for an ECFA signing by June despite the lack of majority support is sufficient evidence that Wu's views are irrelevant.
Moreover, in 1997, constitutional amendments approved by the now defunct National Assembly turned the premiership from the head of governmentinto a chief of staff for the directly elected president and placed final responsibility for foreign and cross-strait, national security and national defence affairs in the hands of the president.
Both as president and ruling KMT chairman, Ma is responsible for planning and propagandizing the rush to sign the "Cross-Strait ECFA," the only person who has the power to change this course and is therefore the only suitable choice for a debate on ECFA.
Moreover, Ma has himself cast off any illusions that he should stand above the fray of public debate by directly participating in ECFA propagandizing forums.
What Ma evidently is willing to do is talk "rationally" with selected persons who will not "irrationally" systematically critique the ECFA project and the KMT government's exaggeration of its benefits and downplaying of its political, social and economic risks.
Ma's insistence on such control in public forums has repeatedly been manifested in the tight control exercised on presidential news conferences, which are constrained in time and always preceded by "consultation" by presidential staff with journalists on what questions they intend to ask.
Ironically, the fact that Ma does not want to face systematic public discussion on ECFA is the most pressing reason why Ma must face the test of accountability of open and public debate on ECFA with the Taiwan opposition leader.
Indeed, the inconvenient reality that President Ma must face is that ECFA will never be seen as legitimate by the majority of the Taiwan people unless they can be persuaded of both its necessity and the capability of the KMT to see and deal effectively with its risks to Taiwan's economy, social equity and democratic independence and to accept full legislative monitoring and democratic accountability through ratification by national citizen referendum.
Trying to hide the process and content of negotiations in the "black box" of "brotherly reconciliation" between the KMT and the PRC's ruling Chinese Communist Party or by refusing to accept full legislative monitoring and genuine public debate will be the surest way for Ma to ensure that ECFA will be treated with suspicion by most Taiwan voters.
By hiding from the political nature of the ECFA and avoiding public debate, Ma himself will turn ECFA into an entirely politicized issue and exacerbate the lack of confidence of Taiwan's people in his leadership.
Source: Taiwan News Online - Editorial 2010/03/26
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