When Taiwan dared say 'no' to
Washington By Ting-I Tsai
TAIPEI - When the line "Taiwan is part of
the People's Republic of China" appeared in the
Chinese government's 11th Five-Year Plan document
on March 6, some observers thought it was a
mistake, while some believed Beijing was ready to
harden its stance toward the island. Officials in
Taiwan and some Beijing-based academics, however,
suggested the move was part of China's preparation
for President Hu Jintao's forthcoming US trip.
For the past two years, the mainland
leadership has been following the path of
suppressing Taiwan via Washington, whose
effectiveness is now
questioned in Beijing because it has neither
stopped Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian holding
a referendum nor stopped him abolishing the
symbolic National Unification Council.
The
"Taiwan is part of the People's Republic of China"
(PRC) phrase has been clearly stated in China's
constitution for decades, noted a high-ranking
cross-strait affairs official, who spoke under
condition of anonymity. "Beijing is betting on the
Bush-Hu summit on April 22," he said, adding that
it was unclear what Hu would derive from the
Washington talks. Taiwan and mainland China, he
said, are competing for Washington's influence.
When Chen abolished the National
Unification Council (NUC) and Guidelines for
Unification with China - which incidentally have
been inactive for six years - on February 27, Hu
sharply criticized Taiwan's decision as "a grave
provocation" and "a dangerous step on the road
toward Taiwan independence".
However,
aside from delivering the severe rebuke, Beijing
has, surprisingly and unusually, not issued any
physical threats toward Taiwan. It is believed
that Beijing is waiting for Washington to make a
public rebuke during Hu's US visit.
On
December 10, 2003, US President George W Bush
publicly rebuked Chen's decision to hold Taiwan's
first referendum (on China's missile deployment)
when he was sitting next to the visiting Chinese
Premier Wen Jiabao.
"It is still uncertain
if Washington would really make this move, one
that would extremely delight China," said Shi
Yinghong, a professor of international relations
at People's University in Beijing, who noted the
numerous disagreements, such as human-rights and
currency issues, between the two sides.
Shi's colleague at People's University,
Jin Canrong, said, "President Hu would be faced
with problems facing the domestic force if he
comes back empty-handed."
The March 6
document stated that "Taiwan is the undivided holy
territory of the People's Republic of China", a
clear violation of Beijing's official position,
which declares that "Taiwan and China belong to
the same China, and the PRC is the only legal
representative of the [one] China".
The
document also lessened the vagueness of the "one
China" description as interpreted by Washington
and Taiwan's opposition Kuomintang (KMT), which
claims the "one China" to be the "Republic of
China", Taiwan's official title. To mitigate these
concerns, Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister Li
Zhaoxing has opted to reiterate three times in his
press conference that "Taiwan is part of China".
Lu Xiaoheng, a Beijing-based Taiwan
affairs expert, explained, "It was a kind of
politeness for Beijing to leave the vagueness
alone. But Beijing has been forced to diminish
that vagueness because of Chen Shui-bian's
continued provocations." Lu, however, believes
that Beijing's Taiwan policy remains unchanged.
In an unofficial Lunar New Year talk, Chen
surprisingly suggested his intention to abolish
the NUC and National Unification Guidelines, a
proposal that has been discussed quietly among
Taiwan's national-security officials for months,
claiming the mainland's enacting the
Anti-Secession Law has changed the status quo
across the Taiwan Strait. Despite this, observers
have concluded that Chen's move has served his own
domestic political game.
Taiwan's Liberty
Times, considered the most authoritative source
from the presidential office, also reported that
Chen started to consider the move shortly after
his ruling Democratic Progressive Party suffered a
defeat in the local commissioners' and mayors'
election and after KMT chairman Ma Ying-jeou's
"eventual goal is reunification" remark in
December.
Washington eventually accepted
Taiwan's proposal that the NUC "cease to
function". Ma started to note that the future of
Taiwan should be decided by the people of Taiwan.
Antonio Chiang, former deputy secretary general of
Taiwan's National Security Council, said Chen's
decision to scrap the NUC would finally help him
be an independent authority from former president
Lee Teng-hui, who has long been an activist for de
jure independence.
However, Chen's move
has raised more and more concerns about his
credibility in the Bush administration.
"This episode certainly did not make
US-Taiwan relations stronger," said Bonnie Glaser,
a senior associate at the Washington-based Center
for Strategic and International Studies. "Taiwan's
support in [the US] Congress is not as firm as in
the past and many in the Bush administration are
wary of what Chen will do next."
Washington has been displeased with
Beijing's resistance to talking to Taiwan's
elected government without setting preconditions,
along with its military modernization schemes
aimed at Taiwan.
The senior Taiwanese
cross-strait affairs official, on the other hand,
noted that Beijing's policy toward Taiwan is yet
to be concluded, as "they will decide whether to
take their own moves based on what they get from
Washington".
Ting-I Tsai is a
Taipei-based freelance writer.
(Copyright 2006 Asia Times Online Ltd.
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