The seven million Taiwan citizens who vote in Saturday's "three - in - one" local elections should keep in mind that their ballots will be seen globally as well as domestically as a confidence vote in the China-tilting policies of President Ma Ying-jeou and his right-wing Chinese Nationalist Party government.
Among the interested observers will be the leadership of the People's Republic of China's ruling Chinese Communist Party, who are already pushing to include political issues in the talks between the KMT and the CCP after the signing of nine agreements on economic and transportation and legal issues and the launching of talks toward an comprehensive "economic cooperation framework agreement" (ECFA).
The cross-strait "reconciliation" pushed by Ma since taking office in May 2008 appeared to hit a couple of potholes this fall with controversies over the invitation by opposition Democratic Progressive Party mayors to the Dalai Lama to visit Taiwan in early September and the showing of a documentary on the exiled Uygur rights activist Rebiya Kadeer in the Kaohsiung Film Festival and a series of retaliatory cancellations of Chinese tour groups.
Instead of resisting the PRC's high-handed attempts to interfere with freedom of speech in Taiwan, the spectre of Beijing's anger promoted Ma to make even more concessions, including the prompt signing of a memorandum of understanding on financial services and a decision to sign the controversial ECFA by next May.
Politics takes command
Just days before the MOU was finalized on November 16, former CCP Central Party School vice president Zheng Bijian, a close confidant of CCP General Secretary and PRC State Chairman Hu Jintao, led a high-powered delegation of "scholar officials" to ostensibly participate in a conference on the past 60 years of cross-strait relations.
Zheng's visit was preceded by a massive 4,000 delegation led by PRC Jiangsu Province CCP Party Secretary Liang Baohua November 9, who claimed to purchase over US$4.1 billion in Taiwan products, but the political weight of Liang's deceptive "buy Taiwan" group was "as light as a feather" compared to Zheng's 28 - person delegation, which was politically "heavier than Mount Tai."
Indeed, Zheng and his colleagues delivered the most comprehensive and authoritative presentation of the CCP's positions on cross-strait political, economic, cultural, diplomatic and military issues, including sensitive topics such as Taiwan's international space, bilateral military confidence building mechanisms (CBMs) and a cross-strait "peace" pact, during which the PRC "scholars" openly manifested Beijing's definition of "peace" as Taiwan's acceptance of "unification."
The CCP's intention to pick up the pace from "economics first" to "politics next" should have come as no surprise to the Ma administration or Taiwan citizens since the "six points" enunciated by Hu himself last
December 31 included the intention to "explore the establishment of military confidence building and other mutually beneficial mechanisms for the sake of stabilizing the situation in the Taiwan Strait."
In other words, once economic and other "pragmatic" issues had been resolved to a certain extent, the further deepening of cross-strait "peaceful development" would inevitably encounter political bottlenecks, notably the PRC's evident concern for an agreement to "end cross-strait hostilities" and establish military CBMs to emasculate Taiwan's self-defense capability.
In the face of Beijing's proposals, the Ma government, perhaps mindful of its plunging approval ratings, has responded with some hesitation and has indicated in typical ostrich-fashion that it prefers to focus on economic consultations.
Although the Cabinet-level Mainland Affairs Council declined comment on the "private" visit, it is obvious that, as one of Hu's confidants, Zheng's open promotion of Beijing's "one country, two systems" formula for political integration and his strident denunciation of "Taiwan independence" as having been rejected by mainstream Taiwan opinion and as "certain to fail" were surely not made in an "unofficial" capacity.
Despite the "excellent state" of cross-strait relations, the PRC has not ceased to denigrate Taiwan internationally, as shown in the joint statement between Hu and U.S. President Barack Obama in Beijing last month which contained Washington's approval of "political dialogue."
Indeed, the CCP leadership has perceived Ma's weakness as a leader, as shown his inability to prevent strong breakaway mayoral bids in Hualien and Hsinchu Counties and his inability withstand external pressure, as shown by his acquiescence to Beijing's "one China" principle and concessions to Washington on imports of "beef offals."
It is worth noting that the PRC has never agreed that any cross-strait "peace pact" or other political or economic agreement can be subject to the ratification by the 23 million Taiwan people and clearly sees brow-beating the Ma and the KMT as sufficient to effect a "final solution" for the "Taiwan problem."
The only means available to check and balance Beijing's political squeeze and force Ma to grow a backbone is to prove that Taiwan's citizens have not "rejected" our right to possess our hard-won people's sovereignty, democracy and economic autonomy and prosperity by delivering a resounding strong vote for DPP candidates Saturday.
Source: Taiwan News - Editorial
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