Ma Ying-jeou to sign peace agreement with China, if elected

Politics Taiwan Politics
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Ma Ying-jeou to sign peace agreement with China, if elected

2007/6/4
By David Young, The China Post

Kuomintang candidate for president Ma Ying-jeou repeated yesterday he would sign a peace agreement with China, if he were elected in March next year.

In a keynote speech before the General Council for Service to Taiwan Businessmen in China, Ma said dialogue must be resumed at once to resolve all outstanding issues across the Taiwan Strait.

Ma said negotiations can begin in line with what is known as the consensus of 1992, a sine qua non laid down by Beijing which President Chen Shui-bian has refused to accept in order to resume dialogue over the past seven years.

Under the unsigned agreement, Taipei and Beijing acknowledge there is but one China, whose connotation can be individually and orally expressed.

That is a sort of modus vivendi, which, in fact, made possible two meetings between the heads of the Straits Exchange Foundation and the Association of Relations Across the Taiwan Strait.

Both are semi-official organizations in charge of the conduct of “unofficial” relations between Taiwan and China.

In those two meetings, a number of outstanding issues in “substantial” relations between the two sides of the Strait were solved.

It was the Kuomintang reached that consensus with China. Ma reiterated, probably for the tenth time, that Taipei and Beijing would sign an agreement on peace to ensure security in the Taiwan Strait.

Lien Chan, Ma’s predecessor, already secured a “peace” agreement between the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party in 2005. The two parties fought a civil war, at the end of which Chiang Kai-shek had to flee China to Taiwan in 1949.

Aside from the repetition of the signing of the peace treaty, Ma counted chickens before they were hatched.

He told Taiwan business leaders he would get the Taiwan economy to grow at least six percent each year and raise per capita income to US$20,000 by 2011.

Taiwan’s per capita income stands at US$13,000.

“I could do so,” Ma said, “because I’m going to remove all the obstacles – political instability, an instable government, and inconsistent policies.”

Those obstacles have been put in the way to Taiwan’s better economic performance by the current government, Ma charged.

Direct flights and shipping across the Strait, Ma went on, will become a reality in one year’s time. He told Channel NewsAsia TV network in Singapore of his timetable Sunday.

That would make at least 10,000 Chinese tourists come to Taiwan in four years. “Every one of them is expected to spend NT$7,000 a day,” Ma continued, “and that means NT$60 billion a year. If gains in related industries are added, Taiwan stands to earn NT$100 billion.”

Another plan Ma would carry out if he were president is to deregulate trade and investment across the Strait. “It’s going to be open in general and under control as an exception,” Ma said.

There can be no other way. Taiwan businesses have been trying to move their operations to China often in violation of the government ban on investment in sensitive industries, including wafer and chip manufacturing.

Still another is to push for a common market across the Strait. “There still remain difficulties,” Ma admitted, “but we’ll start with getting an agreement on economic cooperation.”

Taipei does not want to sign a closer economic partnership agreement with Beijing, which has no plan to sign a free trade agreement with Taiwan.

Beijing has a CEPA with Hong Kong and Macao, which are part of Chinese territory. Taiwan wants an FTA, which China considers possible only with an independent, sovereign state.

China claims Taiwan as one of its provinces and promises to get it back to its fold by force, if necessary.

With the peace agreement signed, there will be no more military confrontation between Taiwan and China, Ma said. All cruise missiles deployed along the southeast coast of China targeting Taiwan have to be removed before the agreement is signed, he added.

Last but not least, Ma said, Beijing has to agree not to squeeze Taiwan out of the international community. That alone takes a great deal of diplomatic tact to persuade China to go along.

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More comprehensive/clear version in Chinese:

gb.udn.com/gb/udn.com/NEWS/NATIO … 3550.shtml

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Well sounds like he has laid out his vision of his first 100 days in office already. He just need a running mate to complete the picture.

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Selling out. Ma is selling out. OK, well I gather that he’s going for the VP spot of the PRC longer term.

I think that the greens are going to have a field day with this one.

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Do the greens have a 100 day plan or a VP candidate at this time?

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the thing is even the dpp can sign a document saying there is only one china. the key to it is whether taiwan is included in that china…even ma wouldnt be so dumb (would he?) as to ride into office and sign away Taiwan’s sovereignty in one fell sweep…without some kind of referendum it could back-fire in spectacular fashion…

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What does not exist cannot be signed away. If Taiwan has any automony at all, it is because it exercises it, not because CSB claims it.

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Well, Ma’s plan sounds good in theory - and is a good aspiration. But making it a reality is another story. Talking about peace - the military standoff with China is just the lingering result of the KMT’s war with the CCP. But now it’s conveniently being painted as an issue caused by the DPP calling for independence. But all the politics aside for the moment, what concession would have to be made by Taiwan to get China to withdraw all the missiles?? And would it have to be palatable only to the KMT or the population as a whole?
Next, direct flights are something that I am in favor of, but once again this is not just something that you start next Monday morning as the KMT has unrealistically proprosed in the past. And Ma has said that he would have Shanghai flights use the domestic airport as a point of entry. OK, raise your hand if you have been in SongShan airport within the last year. Or even two or three… Not to mention the fact that it is located right in Taipei City, the place is more like a bus station than an international airport. There was an article a few months ago in the Taipei Times that addressed how unrealistic this is - and from what I have seen of the place (was there in the last 2 months) the article was accurate. And don’t talk about sinking billions into renovating it when Terminal 1 at Taoyuan is already an embarrasment. This tells me that while Ma talks a good story it’s not necessarily grounded in reality.

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I don’t see how far off the infrastructure at Taoyuan is from becoming like HK or Tokyo facilities. Get off on the tarmac and walk into your facilities if you have to. It basically about the political will to make it happen at this point. The economics are there that whatever money is sunk into upgrading the facilities will be easily recouped by the government from increase tourism travel.

As for the “will of the people” argument, the Blues won the majority of the LY not by accident you understand. The uneducated sheep can tell when the shepherd is inept like CSB.

Is it realistic to retain the Cold War barriers to the PRC, when the 1st world leaders don’t even have them anymore.

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According to the historical record that used to be on display at the CKS Memorial Hall, the last peace agreement with the communists was broken by the communists’ treachery. The KMT is planning to reopen the hall, along with the propaganda. Once the tourists get wind of that, my prediction is that they won’t be coming in such large numbers after all.

And furthermore, any increase of tourism into Taiwan will be accompanied by at least some increase in tourism the other way. Instead of vacationing in Taiwan, as most Taiwanese are now doing, they will take their NT dollars outside of Taiwan. Yet Ma is banking on Chinese tourism.

Ma says that 10,000 tourists from China each spending an average of $7,000 a day results in $60,000,000,000/year in revenues. That’s true only if the average PRC tourist spends a total of NT$600,000/year in Taiwan. Do the math. It’s impossible.

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I can guarantee your prediction is wrong on that front. If propaganda was going to be an issue, mainland Chinese wouldn’t be headed to Hong Kong in the millions.

Taiwanese are already vacationing in mainland China, because there are no legal restrictions on tourist visas. There are millions of trips to mainland China as it is. That isn’t the case in the other direction.

If he’s proposing that 10,000 tourists be permitted to arrive in China every day, that translates into a maximum of 3.6 million Chinese tourists every year. NT$60 billion/3.6 million = NT$16666 = $477 USD per tourist, per stay. That’s about similar to what mainland Chinese are spending in Hong Kong.

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LOL, and here’s the ever-excellent Taipei Times version of this news:

Missiles must go before talks with China, Ma says
By Flora Wang
STAFF REPORTER
Tuesday, Jun 05, 2007, Page 1

The Chinese Nationalist Party’s(KMT) presidential candidate, Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), yesterday said he would demand that China remove the missiles targeting the nation before Taipei and Beijing can resume negotiations or reach a peace accord.

“If the two sides of the Strait are to resume negotiations, reach any peace agreement or negotiate any kind of military or mutual trust mechanism, I will first request that China withdraw the missiles deployed along its southeast coast because we are not willing to conduct peace negotiations while we are threatened by missiles,” he said when approached by reporters at a conference for Taiwanese businessmen based in China.

He said Taiwan and China should regard freedom and democracy as the foundation for cross-strait dialogue.

In an article in yesterday’s Chinese-language United Daily News, Ma said on the 18th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre that he would particularly like to emphasize the idea of having “freedom and democracy as the mutual `language’ of the two sides of the Strait.”

Ma said China’s reform is limited to issues concerning people’s livelihoods, but that it “has not relaxed its oppression of freedom of the press or other human rights.”

“Similarly, China is also hostile to the Republic of China [ROC] for its [pursuit] of the right to participate in international affairs. It is particularly hostile regarding issues such as [the ROC’s] participation in the WHO and other international bodies,” he said.

“This is a violation of the will and the feelings of the Taiwanese people,” Ma said in the article. “Today [yesterday] also marks a year until the beginning of the 2008 Beijing Olympics [sic]. We hope China can reconstruct its image through this international event.”

“We also hope China can quicken its pace to democracy so as to nurture a new cross-strait dialogue,” the article quoted him as saying.

“We are confident that Taiwanese democracy will be more mature. As a result, we are not afraid of pursuing exchanges with China but support broadening the scope of cross-strait exchanges because doing so will be advantageous to not only the Taiwanese economy but also China’s democratic development,” he said.

The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday criticized Ma’s proposed cross-strait policies, saying that he had failed to provide any assessment of the feasibility of his ideas.

“It shows it [Ma’s cross-strait platform] is simply a campaign tool and he could not ensure his ideas would be implemented,” the MAC said in a statement released later yesterday.

If Ma signs a peace agreement or negotiates with China based on the so-called “1992 consensus,” it would be very likely be framed according to Beijing’s “one China principle,” unless Ma asked Beijing to clearly state that the “1992 consensus” has nothing to do with the “one China” principle, the MAC statement said.

“It would be degrading and would seriously damage the rights and interests of the 23 million people of Taiwan,” the statement added.

Additional reporting by Jewel Huang
This story has been viewed 168 times.

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Hi,

I find it amusing that Ma starts off with something that does not appear to have been ratified, that is the '92 Consensus. I mean, if it did exists, wouldn’t it;

a) Be published
b) Incident that China does believe Taiwan is separate?

Let’s assume Ma did become President, and approached China about a “peace treaty” - wouldn’t the fact that Ma as president, being an icon/symbol of a government organisation different to that of the Chinese government automatically make him a target of China’s anger?

At present, the only thing going for the KMT in terms of a relationship with China is that its the opposition party which to China means an entity that can disrupt the Taiwanese government.

If the KMT becomes the legitimate government, wouldn’t they become the very thing that China despises?

Getting back to the peace agreement, as I understand it from previous comments, the deal was, China removes missles and Taiwan will not formally declare independance, but what if the opposition party pushes a referendum through for such a vote? Would this mean the KMT would need to update the constitution to state that Taiwan cannot declare independance?

But wouldn’t the act of updating (actually having a) constitution imply Taiwan is independant anyway?

The reality as far as I see it is, as soon as China talks to President Ma, China formally acknowledges a Taiwanese President, as soon as that occurs the DDP will be handed the very thing that need to push all international organisations to recognise Taiwan independance.

And if China won’t talk to Ma, then Ma cannot uphold any of the promises he is making.

Regards
Michael G

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I find it amusing that you start off with a word that doesn’t really seem to apply here. You’re aware of the meaning of the word “ratified”? Why does the '92 consensus have to be ‘ratified’, when it represents a negotiating position/description of policy? Maybe you’ll be more comfortable calling it a “doctrine” in English.

No. Lien Chan’s reception in the mainland proves that there’s plenty of support for this solution in Beijing. If Ma is elected, this policy is very, very likely to be implemented shortly.

No. Your understanding of what China despises or desires is incorrect.

Yes. At that point, any such peace treaty would undoubtedly have to be ratified by the Taiwanese legislature.

Beijing would explain to you that Taiwan has an autonomous government due to an unfinished Civil War; at the very least it’s exactly what China’s “one country, two system” solution means, and at the very most the question of an independent constitution is the question that still must be settled. Hong Kong also has a “mini-” constitution and its own autonomous legislature. Does that imply it is independent from China?

Beijing will never acknowledge President Ma as “president” of the “Republic of China”. But he will be recognized as the elected leader of the government on Taiwan. Similarly, Hu Jintao will not sign any such agreement as the Premier of the People’s Republic of China. When he met Lien Chan, he did so in his capacity as Party Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party.

If the peace agreement is signed, and if the purpose is to find a compromise, they will have no problems finding language acceptable to both sides.

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[quote]The Chinese Nationalist Party’s(KMT) presidential candidate, Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), yesterday said he would demand that China remove the missiles targeting the nation before Taipei and Beijing can resume negotiations or reach a peace accord.

“If the two sides of the Strait are to resume negotiations, reach any peace agreement or negotiate any kind of military or mutual trust mechanism, I will first request that China withdraw the missiles deployed along its southeast coast because we are not willing to conduct peace negotiations while we are threatened by missiles,” he said when approached by reporters at a conference for Taiwanese businessmen based in China. [/quote]

cctang, I understand that you are living in the land of the not so free and the little bit paranoid, so obviously the sound bytes I heard on BBC would have come across as a bizarre, soundless black screen courtesy of the defenders of the not so free China press, however, the quote above has been on very high rotation for the past two days on the BBC TV. For what it’s worth - because I know for a fact you will not be seeing or hearing it legally, except, odddly enough, here, this week the Beeb is running a special on Taiwan to coincide with Computex.

HG

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[quote=“ac_dropout”]I don’t see how far off the infrastructure at Taoyuan is from becoming like HK or Tokyo facilities. Get off on the tarmac and walk into your facilities if you have to. It basically about the political will to make it happen at this point. The economics are there that whatever money is sunk into upgrading the facilities will be easily recouped by the government from increase tourism travel.[/quote] Yes, my point was that it makes no sense to try to convert the domestic airport to an international airport when the existing international airport is badly in need of updating.

[quote=“ac_dropout”] As for the “will of the people” argument, the Blues won the majority of the LY not by accident you understand. The uneducated sheep can tell when the shepherd is inept like CSB.[/quote] The “will of the people” was a point - not an argument in itself. The question was what concession would be required from Taiwan?

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  1. Stop trying to make public policies denying that Taiwanese are Chinese. Because even if you did rename everything under the sky, the people of Taiwan are not going to forget their own history from 8 years ago.

  2. Stop having political parties on Taiwan with a TI aggenda. Okay we’ve given those TI looney their 8 years. They are as incompetent as the KMT, if not worst. One key difference is that they seem to actively try to piss off both the USA and PRC with that TI nonsense.

  3. Allow for PRC sphere of influence that is as effective as USA sphere of influence on the island. 4th rate diplomats from the USA AIT will in the future have their sabre rattling directly with their 4th rate diplomats from the PRC CIT in Taiwan. Everyone flying to Washington or Beijing over a zinger by the ROC President is a waste of gas and time. Have the last Cold War front right here in Taipei with all interested parties talking in Taipei. More than half the problems that Taiwan has in the international theater orginates from the fact that the PRC and USA are too busy having a pissing war. So let them have their pissing war in Taipei, where the local economy can at least make some money gouging these “honored” 4th rate diplomats from both sides.

Those are just 3 symbolic concession I could see ROC making, that have little or no effect to the daily lives of the average citizen, but would buy a whole lot of diplomatic credibility with the PRC.

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[quote=“Huang Guang Chen”]cctang, I understand that you are living in the land of the not so free and the little bit paranoid, so obviously the sound bytes I heard on BBC would have come across as a bizarre, soundless black screen courtesy of the defenders of the not so free China press, however, the quote above has been on very high rotation for the past two days on the BBC TV. For what it’s worth - because I know for a fact you will not be seeing or hearing it legally, except, odddly enough, here, this week the Beeb is running a special on Taiwan to coincide with Computex.

HG[/quote]
HG,

I think you misunderstand my paranoid rantings. I don’t doubt Ma made the above comments, nor do I doubt that this is indeed part of his stated policy… as I said before, he’s going to have a hard time making these reforms work as a pan-Blue as it is, and he needs to make sure he speaks for the moderates/light greens.

I just think it’s very typical of the Taipei Times to focus on the stick side of this discussion. Most other media seem to find the discussion of a treaty, economic integration, increased tourism pretty news-worthy.

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I don’t think it’ll be anything quite as drastic as what ac_dropout predicted, in all honesty. I think the policies that Ma has already articulated will be enough for Beijing:

  • open up the three-links,
  • allow Taiwanese/mainland students + labor to move freely,
  • open up the tourism markets.

I don’t think there’s any scenario where Beijing insists on limitations on Taiwanese domestic politics. This is something Taiwan can figure out on its own.

At most, Beijing will insist Taiwan stop attempting to join the UN/WHO (obviously) as sovereign “normal” nations. Instead, the two will work on some sort of observer rights that are acceptable to the Blues and the Reds. Beijing might also insist that Taiwan resist from buying advanced weaponry: F-22s, submarines, missile defense. But quite frankly, if this peace agreement is signed, I don’t think the United States is going to sell any advanced weaponry to Taiwan anyways… the Pentagon knows much of it will be on a fast boat to Chinese military research labs.

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LOL. It’s fun to read Ma’s fantasies.

(1) Everyone already knows, as MikeG pointed out, that there is no 1992 Consensus. So there is no basis for “negotiations.”

(2) The Peace Treaty is an old idea of Soong’s that he first proposed in the 2000 election.

In other words, Ma is using something that doesn’t exist to support a position that has already lost one election. And of course, the last time the Ma made an agreement contingent on missile removal, back in Feb '06, his party shouted him down, and everyone agreed it was A Good Thing that Beijing points missiles at Taiwan…

[ul]The nation’s main political parties fought a war of words over cross-strait relations yesterday, with the top pan-blue leader backtracking on his stance regarding talks with China, while a pan-green lawmaker dubbed the opposition’s policies hypocritical.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in London yesterday during an interview with Taiwanese and British reporters that engaging in negotiations with China to seek a breakthrough in relations remains the only way for Taiwan to solve thorny cross-strait issues peacefully.

Even in the face of more than 700 missiles targeting Taiwan, the country’s leadership should seek to negotiate with China and solve the differences between the two sides to achieve permanent peace across the Taiwan Strait, Ma said.[/ul]

Of course, the day before, the Savior of Taiwan had criticized the Source of All That Is Good thusly:

[ul]China must agree to discuss dismantling its missiles pointing at Taiwan before talks can be held, Kuomintang Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in comments aired Saturday by Taiwan’s ETTV Station.

"No one likes to live under the threat of guns, knives or warheads of missiles. This should be included in the agenda if we hold talks in the future," he said.

Ma, who is viewed as a shoo-in for KMT nomination in the 2008 presidential election, made the comments to a group of Taiwanese and Chinese students at Cambridge University in England.[/ul]

In case there should be any confusion about what Ma, the Chairman of the KMT, actually meant, the KMT whip reinforced this the next day:

[ul]KMT caucus whip Tsai Chin-lung (蔡錦隆) on Sunday added that Beijing has no chance of forcing Taiwan to negotiate under the threat of its missiles.[/ul]

Yep. Last time around, they forced him to recant on his apostasy for daring to suggest that Beijing could be wrong. The KMT is so fucked up, they actually want Beijing to point missiles at their children. Now that’s a display of devotion…

So let’s see if they force Ma to recant again.

Vorkosigan