IS IT ABOUT FACE, ONE FACE OR TWO--TAIWAN & CHINA TODAY
I have written a lot about the fact that Taiwanese are way-up-in-the-air as to what their identity as a people and a nation should be. Here is another round of that in today's papers.--KAS
‘One China’ idea up for discussion: Ma
MUTUAL NON-DENIAL:：The DPP said the ‘one China, two governments’ proposal ran counter to Ma’s 2008 pledge that he would not ‘discuss unification’ within his term
By Mo Yan-chih and Vincent Y. Chao / Staff Reporters
Sat, Jun 25, 2011 - Page 1 TAIPEI TIMES
The latest proposal that Taiwan and China function as separate governments within a “one China” framework could be up for discussion, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said, sparking concern within the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) about political negotiations across the Taiwan Strait.
In an interview with the Chinese-language Apple Daily published yesterday, Ma said a proposal made by Beijing’s Tsinghua University professor Chu Shulong (楚樹龍) in a recent paper to the Brookings Institution that Taiwan and China should be brought together as a single country, but with separate central governments, showed that his own “mutual non-denial” position on cross-strait relations had inspired more academics to think about cross-strait issues.
“I think mutual denial of each other’s sovereignty and mutual non-denial of respective jurisdictions would be more appropriate, but any proposal has its pros and cons, and I think it’s up for discussion,” Ma said.
The “mutual non-denial” policy proposed by Ma in 2007 implies that Taiwan does not deny China’s existence, but that it cannot recognize its sovereignty.
Presidential Office spokesman Fan Chiang Tai-chi (范姜泰基) said later yesterday that the “discussion” Ma mentioned in the interview referred to “academic discussions,” dismissing the DPP’s criticisms of Ma’s comments.
“We hope the DPP will stop distorting the president’s remarks and use its energy to work on a long-term framework for interaction between the two sides [of the Taiwan Strait] instead,” he said.
Fan Chiang said the Ma government has been promoting cross-strait relations using the principle of “one China, with a different interpretation on each side.”
Ma said in the interview that the “one China” in the proposed “one country, two central governments” solution should refer to the Republic of China (ROC).
Ma, seeking re-election in January’s presidential election, brushed aside concerns about the start of political negotiations between the two sides of the Strait if he were re-elected, saying the core issue of cross-strait relations, which is the sovereignty issue, would not be able to be solved in such a short time.
“There’s no pressure for political negotiations” from Beijing, Ma said. “They do not necessarily want to hurry the talks either.”
DPP spokesperson Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said the interview showed the president’s pro-China inclination and that it was cause for serious concern.
“I think that cross-strait interaction is an extremely difficult question that the president shouldn’t take it so lightly; it concerns the country’s sovereignty and it contains dangers. [The talk] about political discussions concern [whether Taiwan] is ready for unification with China,” Chen said.
Chen said Ma needed to break out of the “one China” mindset that the so-called “1992 consensus” had “locked Taiwan into.”
Chu’s proposal ran counter to Ma’s 2008 election promise that he would not “discuss unification” while president, Chen added.
Elsewhere in the Apple Daily interview, Ma challenged DPP Chairperson and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) proposal to build a “feasible and viable” interaction framework with China if elected and lashed out at her cross-strait policies, saying they were “hollow and vague.”
“Tsai’s denial of the existence of the ‘1992 consensus’ shows that she cannot face reality and her comments on the so-called ‘feasible and viable interaction framework’ are empty talk,” Ma said.
Ma also challenged Tsai’s call for mutual understanding between the DPP and Beijing, saying it would be difficult for Tsai to carry out her promises because of her evasiveness when defining cross-strait policies.
In response to Ma’s criticism of Tsai, Chen said that instead of political attacks, the president should assess his own cross-strait policies and whether they have received popular support.
“Ma’s cross-strait policies revolve around a ‘one China’ framework. Instead, what the DPP is proposing is a framework that is open and can create lasting peace and stability,” Chen said. “As the 'one China' policy his only platform, we wonder how this kind of leader still has the nerve to criticize others?”
Published on Taipei Times :
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2011/06/25/2003506626
Copyright © 1999-2011 The Taipei Times. All rights reserved.
‘One China’ idea up for discussion: Ma
MUTUAL NON-DENIAL:：The DPP said the ‘one China, two governments’ proposal ran counter to Ma’s 2008 pledge that he would not ‘discuss unification’ within his term
By Mo Yan-chih and Vincent Y. Chao / Staff Reporters
Sat, Jun 25, 2011 - Page 1 TAIPEI TIMES
The latest proposal that Taiwan and China function as separate governments within a “one China” framework could be up for discussion, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said, sparking concern within the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) about political negotiations across the Taiwan Strait.
In an interview with the Chinese-language Apple Daily published yesterday, Ma said a proposal made by Beijing’s Tsinghua University professor Chu Shulong (楚樹龍) in a recent paper to the Brookings Institution that Taiwan and China should be brought together as a single country, but with separate central governments, showed that his own “mutual non-denial” position on cross-strait relations had inspired more academics to think about cross-strait issues.
“I think mutual denial of each other’s sovereignty and mutual non-denial of respective jurisdictions would be more appropriate, but any proposal has its pros and cons, and I think it’s up for discussion,” Ma said.
The “mutual non-denial” policy proposed by Ma in 2007 implies that Taiwan does not deny China’s existence, but that it cannot recognize its sovereignty.
Presidential Office spokesman Fan Chiang Tai-chi (范姜泰基) said later yesterday that the “discussion” Ma mentioned in the interview referred to “academic discussions,” dismissing the DPP’s criticisms of Ma’s comments.
“We hope the DPP will stop distorting the president’s remarks and use its energy to work on a long-term framework for interaction between the two sides [of the Taiwan Strait] instead,” he said.
Fan Chiang said the Ma government has been promoting cross-strait relations using the principle of “one China, with a different interpretation on each side.”
Ma said in the interview that the “one China” in the proposed “one country, two central governments” solution should refer to the Republic of China (ROC).
Ma, seeking re-election in January’s presidential election, brushed aside concerns about the start of political negotiations between the two sides of the Strait if he were re-elected, saying the core issue of cross-strait relations, which is the sovereignty issue, would not be able to be solved in such a short time.
“There’s no pressure for political negotiations” from Beijing, Ma said. “They do not necessarily want to hurry the talks either.”
DPP spokesperson Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said the interview showed the president’s pro-China inclination and that it was cause for serious concern.
“I think that cross-strait interaction is an extremely difficult question that the president shouldn’t take it so lightly; it concerns the country’s sovereignty and it contains dangers. [The talk] about political discussions concern [whether Taiwan] is ready for unification with China,” Chen said.
Chen said Ma needed to break out of the “one China” mindset that the so-called “1992 consensus” had “locked Taiwan into.”
Chu’s proposal ran counter to Ma’s 2008 election promise that he would not “discuss unification” while president, Chen added.
Elsewhere in the Apple Daily interview, Ma challenged DPP Chairperson and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) proposal to build a “feasible and viable” interaction framework with China if elected and lashed out at her cross-strait policies, saying they were “hollow and vague.”
“Tsai’s denial of the existence of the ‘1992 consensus’ shows that she cannot face reality and her comments on the so-called ‘feasible and viable interaction framework’ are empty talk,” Ma said.
Ma also challenged Tsai’s call for mutual understanding between the DPP and Beijing, saying it would be difficult for Tsai to carry out her promises because of her evasiveness when defining cross-strait policies.
In response to Ma’s criticism of Tsai, Chen said that instead of political attacks, the president should assess his own cross-strait policies and whether they have received popular support.
“Ma’s cross-strait policies revolve around a ‘one China’ framework. Instead, what the DPP is proposing is a framework that is open and can create lasting peace and stability,” Chen said. “As the 'one China' policy his only platform, we wonder how this kind of leader still has the nerve to criticize others?”
Published on Taipei Times :
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2011/06/25/2003506626
Copyright © 1999-2011 The Taipei Times. All rights reserved.
Labels: MUTUAL NON-DENIAL:：The DPP said the ‘one China, two governments’ proposal ran counter to Ma’s 2008 pledge that he would not ‘discuss unification’ within his term
posted by Kevin Anthony Stoda at 11:39 AM
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‘One China, two governments’ rejected
AGREEING TO DISAGREE:：DPP lawmakers said the Ma administration’s support for the ‘one China’ principle had opened the door to new interpretations of ‘one China’
By Vincent Y. Chao / Staff Reporter
Fri, Jun 24, 2011 - Page 1
A new proposal to bring Taiwan and China together as a single country, but with separate central governments, has failed to gain much traction with lawmakers.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators opposed the idea published by a Chinese academic with the US-based Brookings Institution, a public policy think tank, earlier this month.
Tsinghua University professor Chu Shulong (楚樹龍) proposed that Taiwan and China accept and recognize each other as separate “central governments” within a “one China” framework — a move that he said would pave the way for more stable political relations.
Calling mutual non--recognition a “dilemma and a pity,” Chu said that both sides should “accept and work with the facts that there are two equal-level governments within the current framework.” This way, he said, both sides could refer to each other as a “normal government” and officials by their official titles.
d.
Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office said on Wednesday that it had no comment on the proposal from Chu, who, according to his biography, is also a professor at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Party School and a former director at a state-run research institute.
Media reports in Taiwan called the proposal “one country, two central governments” (一國兩府), in reference to Beijing’s “one country, two systems” (一國兩制) idea.
Chu’s proposal, one of several that have been devised in an attempt to resolve the cross-strait standoff, fell short of public expectations, said KMT lawmakers, who advised more support for the “status quo,” consistent with cross-strait policy under President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
Taiwan and China should continue to work on resolving cross-strait differences, “which will require China’s democratization,” KMT Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) said. “China must become democratic to the stage that people can make their own decisions ... in order to completely erase cross-strait political differences.”
KMT Legislator Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) said the idea “fell short of public expectations.”
The Chinese-language United Daily News quoted Chu as saying that he believed Chinese and Taiwanese officials had already aligned themselves with his proposal “in many different ways,” although no substantial measures had yet been taken.
In his paper for Brookings, Chu added that if re-elected next year, Ma — to whom he did not refer by his official title of president — would face “raised expectations” in Beijing for the start of political talks and the establishment of a long-term framework for peace, stability and development.
However, Chu was careful to say that if talks took place, they “would not progress to reunification until far into the future.”
DPP lawmakers seized on the remarks as an indication that the Ma administration’s reliance on the “one China” principle and so-called “1992 consensus” had left the door wide open to new interpretations on what “one China” meant.
DPP Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) said Chu’s proposal was “testing the waters” to measure the level of acceptance in Taiwan.
“It’s the same unification battle, but given a makeover. This isn’t the first time that proposals like this have been floated,” Gao said.
“‘One country, two central governments’ does nothing to break away from the restrictions imposed by ‘one China.’ To accept such a plan would be degrading and tantamount to falling into China’s trap.”
DPP Legislator Tsai Huang--liang (蔡煌瑯) added: “Taiwan needs to stay strong and assert its own sovereignty.”
Former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平) first proposed the “one country, two systems” model, which both the KMT and DPP reject, as part of Beijing’s unification efforts in the early 1980s ahead of the scheduled return of Hong Kong and Macau. There have been growing signs that Beijing could offer an updated version for Taiwan amid warming cross-strait ties and increased exchanges.
Published on Taipei Times :
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2011/06/24/2003506551
Copyright © 1999-2011 The Taipei Times. All rights reserved
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