One has to wonder about Ma Ying-jeou’s willingness to push the envelope to any extent at all. Today, he criticized the Presidential Office for selecting LY President Wang Jin-ping to represent Chen Shui-bian at an APEC summit. In this Chinese-language article, Ma is quoted as saying that you need to do a backroom deal first; then you make the announcement. This comes just a day after Ma and the KMT gave their blessing to Wang’s trip (Shortly afterward, Beijing said they opposed Wang's appearance at the APEC summit; Ma found out through KMT-CPC channels that the PO knew Beijing's position before announcing Wang would go to Busan).
Lee Teng-hui and then Chen Shui-bian have been strategically pushing the envelope in various kinds of announcements. The result has been that Beijing no longer reacts strongly to certain kinds of statements and Taiwan has more international leeway. Sure, Wang may never have had a chance to represent Chen, but if you don’t try to advance your position, you certainly won’t get anywhere. I hope that when Ma is elected president, he won’t take such a spineless approach as he seems to be advocating now.
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"Lee Teng-hui and then Chen Shui-bian have been strategically pushing the envelope in various kinds of announcements. The result has been that Beijing no longer reacts strongly to certain kinds of statements and Taiwan has more international leeway. "
I'm sorry, but what planet are you living on? Those two have done nothing strategic, other than annoying China AND the US. Beijing no longer reacts because they've wised up to CSB's ploys to build domestic support by throwing the word 'China' around. What flexibility? Taiwan's allies and options are fading fast.
Have you noticed that CSB tried to tempt Wang into splitting the KMT? The invitation was not welcome and a complete set-up. What's spineless about opposing it?
"I'm sorry, but what planet are you living on?"
Envelopia.
As you're pushing the edges, it may not seem like there's a lot of elbow room, but you're making ever-so-slow progress.
If your criterion for evaluating Taiwan's state of international affairs is its number of allies, then you could say that it is losing ground.
However, if you look at what it can do now that it couldn't do in 1980, there are some definite improvements.
The biggest thorn in US-Taiwan relations is the refusal of the legislature to approve the arms procurement budget. That's not the fault of this government.
And sure, if the KMT and PFP had their way, there would be lots of "constructive engagement" with Beijing, but who could imagine this as a way of getting improving Taiwan's situation?
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