On the first day of the fourth meeting of "semi-official" envoys from Taiwan and the People's Republic of China in Taichung City, it is essential to recall the fundamental problems in the policy adopted toward the authoritarian PRC regime adopted by President Ma Ying-jeou and his Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) administration, namely transparency, Taiwan-centric policies and the need to form a domestic consensus to counter the Chinese Communist Party's divide and conquer strategy.
On the eve of the meeting between Taipei's Strait Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Ping-kun with Beijing's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin, ovr 100,000 Taiwan citizens marched and rallied peacefully to "protect our rice bowls and break the black box" of secretive talks between the KMT and the PRC's ruling Chinese Communist Party.
The demonstration, launched by the opposition Democratic Progressive Party and the Taiwan Solidarity Union together with numerous Taiwan-centric civic groups, aimed to "check and balance" the Ma government's unilateral China-tilting rush to forge a wide range of cross-strait agreements, including the controversial "Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement."
The polarization of public opinion manifested on the content of the Chiang-Chen meeting and the ECFA has showed that Ma and his right-wing KMT government have failed to effectively and honestly communicate with Taiwan's 23 million people on the content, the benefits and risks and the long-term implications of these pacts and ECFA.
Moreover, the fact that most citizens are unaware of the actual content of the four agreements to be signed Tuesday by the SEF and ARATS "white gloves" confirms that the so-called "reconciliation" has bypassed both legislative oversight and avoided the public monitoring normal in democratic societies.
The people's intervention
Combined with the erosion of Ma's approval rating to less than 30 percent and the gradual but steady recovery of public support and confidence by the DPP in the December 5 local elections, the Taiwan-centric opposition's call for transparency and democratic accountability is exerting intensifying pressure on Ma and his KMT government.
The reality of this pressure underlays the sudden decision by the Ma administration to play down any possible discussions on ECFA in this Chiang - Chen meeting after publically declaring that signing the pact in early 2010 was an "irresistible" trend.
However, the Ma administration should keep in mind that any attempt to proceed with substantive ECFA talks behind the scene will invite an even stronger backlash from public opinion.
The serious public policy issue of whether to push forward an ECFA or how to ensure that such a pact is in Taiwan's national interests has been turned into a fiercely partisan dispute by the arrogance of the Ma government.
Instead of frank dialogue on both the benefits and the economic, social and political risks, the Ma government has attempted to brainwash the public with threats that massive unemployment will result if the pact is not quickly signed or baseless claims that Beijing will permit Taiwan to sign free trade pacts with other nations after signing ECFA.
The calls by opposition parties, civic reform and social movement organizations, labor and farmer unions and traditional or small business associations aim to block the KMT government from engaging in unilateral negotiations with the PRC without going through transparent and democratically accountable procedures.
In the face of this pressure, Ma and his KMT government will have no choice but to explain to the people concretely how they aim to safeguard Taiwan's national interests in dealings with the PRC instead of pretending that there are no economic, social and, especially, political risks.
If Ma believes the only way he can ensure his re-election in 2012 is by playing only the China card, the president and KMT chairman may find that he will pay a heavy political price for his neglect of the domestic policy arena and disdaining the public will.
For its part, the PRC's ruling Chinese Communist Party has used its alliance with the KMT to first obstruct the ability of the former DPP administration to forge a balanced and consensus based cross-strait policy and has taken advantage of Ma's ideological decision to fast track its China policy to deepen divisions in Taiwan.
Even before his arrival this morning, the PRC envoy launched a gambit in "public diplomacy" by expressing his desire to "represent the Chinese people" and meet Aug. 8 flood disaster victims.
However, the fact that his excursions will take place under the heavy guard of hundreds or even thousands of security agents and police instead conveys the impression of an inspection of an imperial envoy to a cringing vassal in which the representative of the CCP dictatorship will remain isolated from the views of the Taiwan people as well as from his own.
The over 100,000 citizens who participated in yesterday's march sent a message to the KMT and CCP elites that they themselves will face considerable risks if they continue to ignore the values and institutions of our democratic society and the collective will of Taiwan's 23 million people.
Source: Taiwan News Editorial 2009/12/21
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