Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) often asks his critics why they question his determination to uphold Taiwan’s national interests and dignity as a sovereign nation. A review of some of his remarks will perhaps provide the president with a hint as to why so many people continue to remain stubbornly unconvinced.

On Monday, when meeting with Texas Governor Rich Perry, Ma referred to Taiwan as a “province” when speaking of the sister-state relations between Taiwan and Texas. Even though Resolution 81(R) HR, 1593 passed last June by the Texas House of Representatives, describes the link between Texas and Taiwan as a “sister-state relationship,” Ma chose to say “sister state and sister province” relationship when he expressed gratitude to the governor over the passage of the resolution.

Recently, there have been a number of labor protests in China, something rarely seen since the Chinese Communist Party took power. These protests were sparked initially by conditions at the Foxconn plant in Shenzhen, which led to a spate of suicides and resulted in the company promising to increase wages by 122 percent.

This was predictably followed by demands from other workers’ groups for pay increases and, with tacit official approval, the minimum wage was raised. These changes are moving beyond the relatively wealthy areas of the Pearl River Delta manufacturing region and around Shanghai, further inland to regions such as Jiangxi and Shanxi provinces. If the trend continues, it could spread throughout the country. Although this is an internal matter for China, it also represents a huge opportunity for Taiwan.