Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

 
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Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Failing to look into the blind spot

Since the inauguration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), the national defense budget has plummeted. Taiwan’s arsenal is aging and defense capabilities are weakening, while China is spending more than 10 percent of its annual budget on defense every year. The cross-strait military imbalance is a clear concern for many countries, with even US and Japanese military experts shaking their heads in disbelief.

A cable from the US embassy in Bangkok recently released by WikiLeaks shows that former minister of foreign affairs Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊), in a conversation with AIT Chairman Raymond Burghardt on March 20, 2009, said that the Ma administration would make three commitments to the US: Taiwan would not request that the US sell specific weapons systems to Taiwan simply to prove that the US would do so; Taiwan would not request any special transit arrangements just to show that the US supports Taiwan, and Taiwan would not insist on the use of specific names based on political concerns.

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Ma Ying-jeou's "Do Nothing" Promises Deceive Taiwan

A recently released WikiLeaks cable revealed yet another set of Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou's strange and vacuous negative promises that in effect define him as a "do-nothing president," that is, a president who attempts to be a good little boy that will sit in the corner vis-à-vis the US-China-Taiwan triangular relationship and not rock the boat or try to offend anyone. This latest revelation, dated March 20, 2009, a year after Ma's taking the presidency referenced three promises Ma made through staff to American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairman Raymond Burghardt. Ma's first set of three strange, empty "do nothing" pledges were made when Ma had become president. Both sets of promises demand closer examination for they not only reflect Ma's characteristic avoidance in taking an accountable position on anything but they also imply an obtuse simple-mindedness on the part of anyone who accepts his words as noteworthy.

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Safeguarding Taiwan’s freedom

According to Chinese jurist and writer Yuan Hongbing (袁紅冰) in “The Taiwan Crisis: China’s Plan to Annex Taiwan Without a Battle by 2012,” former paramount Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平) drafted a secret political will before his death in which he focused on Taiwan. The most crucial section reads: “Advocates of freedom in the bourgeois class ... are itching to follow the so-called ‘Taiwan experience’... Settling the Taiwan problem directly affects the existence of the Chinese Communist Party [CCP] and socialism in China ... The Taiwanese problem must be resolved by the end of Comrade Hu Jintao’s (胡錦濤) second term. Do not go beyond 2012. I hope that the 18th Party Congress will also be able to celebrate solving the Taiwan problem.”

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US lawmaker plans another hearing

A recent US Congressional hearing held by US Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen on “Why Taiwan Matters” suggests continued US support for Taiwan and that Washington would not abandon Taiwan, Formosa Foundation chief executive Terri Giles said yesterday.

Ros-Lehtinen, who is also chairman of the US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, is planning to organize and invite administration officials to a second congressional hearing on issues concerning Taiwan at the end of the year, Giles said, adding that she hoped the discussion would focus on democracy in Taiwan.

The June 16 hearing held by Ros-Lehtinen before the House Foreign Affairs Committee was the first hearing on Taiwan to be held in Congress in seven years.

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Page 1193 of 1512

Newsflash


A protester scuffles with police officers yesterday as China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits Chairman Chen Deming arrives at the Cross-Strait CEO Summit in Taipei’s Xinyi District.
Photo: Reuters

After a week-long trip around Taiwan dogged by persistent protests, China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) Chairman Chen Deming (陳德銘) returned to Taipei yesterday to attend the annual Cross-Strait CEO Summit — only to be greeted by more demonstrations.

Although the summit purports to facilitate business relationships across the Taiwan Strait, critics say the meeting in effect allows the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to formulate decisions on cross-strait trade policies while circumventing legislative and administrative procedures.