Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou sees no need to rush cross-strait ties
In an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language daily the China Times, Ma said the quick pace of cross-strait rapprochement that his administration adopted initially upon assuming office was aimed at “making up for previously lost ground.”
Relations between the two sides have markedly improved since Ma came to power in 2008, with more than a dozen cross-strait accords being inked, including a landmark Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement in late June of this year.
“Now that we’ve caught up, we can maintain the current speed in moving forward” with enhancing cross-strait ties, the president said.
He said over the years government polls showed that most people regard cross-strait relations as developing at the right pace. There are actually more respondents who think the pace is too fast than those who think it is too slow.
Ma noted that while many people in Taiwan see mainland China as an opportunity, there are also those who view it as a threat.
“The job of the current government is to maximize the opportunities while minimizing the threat,” he explained.
“As such, the government should try to maintain a balance” in its approach to cross-strait policy, he added.
The president stressed that his two main goals in working toward improving relations with the mainland have been “peace and prosperity.”
Since China’s split into two regimes in 1949, relations between the People’s Republic of China on the mainland and the Republic of China on Taiwan can be divided into two eras, according to Ma. The first three decades could be called the “hot war period,” while the last 30 years could be viewed as the “cold war period” characterized by an unyielding standoff between the two sides.
“The threat to Taiwan’s security still exists,” the president said, adding, however, that “the time has arrived for negotiations to replace confrontation and for reconciliation to bring an end to the conflict.”
Ma recently stated in an interview with a Japanese media outlet that the time is not ripe to launch cross-strait political talks. In Tuesday’s interview, he further clarified his remarks, saying “It’s not that I don’t want a peace agreement with the mainland. Rather, there are more important issues concerning people’s livelihood that have to be negotiated.
“The two sides must first attain a certain level of progress before an opportunity to advance to the next level in talks presents itself,” he added. (SB)
China Times, Government Information Office, Republic of China (Taiwan), 01.09.2010
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