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Ma has irretrievably lost credibility
By Christian Fan Jiang 范姜提昂
In an interview published recently in the Chinese-language magazine Wealth, which focuses on financial affairs, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) especially pointed out misunderstandings he believes the media have had about him for a long time now.
Ma said that he has never said that he cares about going down in history as the person who facilitated unification between Taiwan and China, but that he is concerned with how he is perceived in history.
During the interview, Ma stated his intent more clearly by saying that he wants to be remembered as the leader of the government that brought about the most peaceful and stable period in cross-strait relations since 1949.
That peace and stability is based on the concepts of the “1992 consensus” and “one China, with different interpretations” and so, Ma hopes to use a meeting between himself and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to consolidate these concepts and turn them into a “highly stable framework” for dialogue.
During the interview, Ma added that this is the only path of action available and that it is something that cannot be pushed. This is supposed to mean that’s all there is to a meeting between Ma and Xi and that there is no need for us to worry.
However, Ma has lost all his credibility, not just domestically, but also internationally.
Since coming into office, Xi has cracked down on corruption within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and this has met with resistance from within the CCP.
Under Ma’s leadership, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has become involved in a whole series of corruption scandals and these without a doubt provide very good ammunition to mock Ma for those within the CCP unhappy with Xi’s crackdown on corruption.
Also, it is now evident that China knows full well that the political situation in Taiwan cannot be decided on by one person or one party.
Just what sort of extra costs will have to be paid when such a person or such party begs for audience with a much stronger other? This is something that we will have to pay close attention to.
Furthermore, the CCP has never agreed with the idea of “one China, with different interpretations” and has constantly stressed that there is no room for discussion when it comes to the “one China” principle.
Xi offended a huge number of people within the CCP during his crackdown on corruption, so why would Xi back down on the “one China” principle just for some political hack from Taiwan and give those inside the CCP an excuse to pick fault with him?
Xi has already gotten himself into all sorts of strife over the issue of meeting with Ma. For Ma to expect Xi to make a clear concession and agree to the idea of “one China, with different interpretations” is absolutely delusional.
Christian Fan Jiang is deputy secretary-general of the Northern Taiwan Society.
Translated by Drew Cameron
source: Taipei Times
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