Former American Institute in Taiwan chairman Richard Bush pointed to the essential dilemma in cross-strait relations last week when he questioned why Beijing is still deploying missiles to threaten Taiwan despite the "reconciliation" policy of President Ma Ying-jeou and his Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) government.
Unfortunately, Bush, now director for East Asian policy studies at the Brookings Institution, failed to note that it is precisely the capitulationist nature of the KMT's "reconciliation" with the Chinese Communist Party that has placed Taiwan in an increasingly unfavorable position in dealings with the PRC. The KMT has been conducting negotiations with its former bitter rival since KMT honorary chairman Lien Chan embarked on a kowtowing visit to CCP General Secretary and PRC State Chairman Hu Jintao in Beijing in April 2005 and Ma has made the "reconciliation" and an unilateral "diplomatic truce" official policy since taking office in May 2008.