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Aug 12, 2006 KMT Head's China Policy Stirs Debate Beijing seminar looks at Ma Ying-jeou's ambiguous stand By China Correspondent, Clarissa Oon Straits Times BEIJING - TAIWAN opposition leader Ma Ying-jeou's ambiguous policy towards China sparked a debate among several mainland and Taiwanese scholars at a seminar in Beijing earlier this week. The Kuomintang (KMT) chairman, widely tipped as front runner for the island's 2008 presidential election, has come out in favour of dialogue and closer economic ties with China. He is regarded as Beijing's preferred candidate to succeed pro-independence President Chen Shui-bian. However, Mr Ma has also issued statements respecting 'the people's choice' on cross-strait issues, even if most Taiwanese choose independence from the mainland. This worries Beijing, said scholars at the three-day seminar. Observers say Beijing fears that Mr Ma could be advocating a milder repackaged version of Taiwanese independence, although it is currently giving him the benefit of the doubt as it works with the KMT to isolate Mr Chen's party. The KMT favours eventual reunification with the mainland. Other analysts argue that this particular tack of Mr Ma's is just a strategy to secure mainstream support and does not reflect what he might do after becoming president. The seminar, which ended yesterday, brought together some 120 scholars from the mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. They included prominent analysts such as National Taiwan University's Chang Ling-chen and Professor Yu Keli of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The event was organised by three mainland think-tanks and was open to the media. Mr Ma has shown that he is following 'two paths' on cross-strait matters which may be contradictory, wrote Nanjing University analyst Liu Xiangping in a paper circulated at the forum. On the one hand, there is his 'idealist path' supporting negotiations with the mainland based on the '1992 consensus' that there is only one China - with both sides holding different definitions of what that means. On the other hand, Mr Ma also holds to a 'realist path', which would involve maintaining the status quo across the strait and deferring to the people's choice over Taiwan's future options. So which path reflects the real Mr Ma, asked Prof Liu in his essay. The KMT leader has said before that there should be no timetable for the reunification of Taiwan and China and that the mainland needs to first undertake democratic reforms. In his paper, Mr Fan Mang, a researcher from the mainland's All-China Federation Of Taiwan Compatriots, called Mr Ma's policy of 'conditional' reunification a 'soft threat' to Beijing's communist government. Other scholars said Mr Ma's cross-strait policy would be affected by his lack of vision and his tendency, as a lawyer by training, to focus on details instead of the big picture. Prof Chang noted how former KMT chairman Lien Chan's landmark visit to the mainland in April last year turned around public opinion on Taiwanese politicians visiting China. In comparison, Mr Ma's tendency 'to wait for public opinion to crystallise around an issue before acting' could make him incapable of seizing the initiative on cross-strait ties, said Prof Chang. In June, he came under fire for his indecision over a motion to recall President Chen over corruption scandals involving family members and close aides. Yesterday, the KMT said it would put on hold a plan to invite a top Chinese official to an agricultural forum in Taipei in October. It said the Taiwanese government was unlikely to approve the visit by Mr Chen Yunlin, director of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, after African ally Chad broke off ties with Taiwan in favour of China. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 2006 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved. Privacy Statement & Condition of Access |