Ma Ying-jeou: No peace until China removes missiles against Taiwan
Taipei (AsiaNews/Agencies) – There will be no peace between Taiwan and China until Beijing “removes the over 1000 missiles it has pointed on the Island”. Marking the first anniversary of his 2008 election yesterday, Taiwan’s President MaYing-jeou, clarified that for now and the immediate future he believes it important to increase cooperation in the economic and judicial sector.
Ma did not rule out “discussions on a peace pact with the mainland” if he were “re-elected to a second term [in 2012]”, but that he no longer deemed the issue urgent “as tensions across the strait [of Taiwan] have been reduced”. He maintains that this issue will be dealt with by future generations. He added that he now intends to concentrate on economic concerns, particularly given the crisis hitting Taiwan, underlining how much the situation has improved “in one year” since his election
Ma re-established commercial and economic ties with Beijing, after they had been interrupted by his predecessor, the ultra-nationalist democrat Chen Shuibian. Over 87thousand Chinese tourists have visited the Island since July 2008.
Despite this the op position Progressive Democrat Party is accusing him of having sold the island’s independence for small economic concessions and May 17th last tens of thousands took to the streets to contest his policies. Polls show Ma’s popularity is in free-fall, less that 30% consensus compared to the 58% that saw him elected.
Analysts believe that he could however win back popular opinion if he succeeds in rebooting the economy: this how his willingness to allow Chinese investment in Taiwanese industry is seen. Last week Taiwan’s Premier Liu Chaoshiun told the Financial Times that despite favouring the private sector the government remains cautious because of strong political opposition.
Taiwan's economy grew a mere 0.12% in 2008 and is forecast to contract 2.97% in 2009 - far short of the 6 % growth promised by Ma when he ran for president. In the first four months of this year, the island's exports contracted 36 % year on year, to 55.39 billion dollars, while unemployment rocketed to more than 5%, far below the 3% jobless rate promised by Ma. Taiwan's stock index has dipped more than 30% since Ma took office, despite the recent rally.
Experts observe that economic development tied to China “could result in surrender to China one day if it retracted its economic resources”. Ma’s policies are instead approved of by the United States, because it lowers tensions in the Strait.
According to a U.S. Defence Department report published in March China has increased its force of mobile short-range missiles based in garrisons opposite Taiwan to as many as 1,150 in September from as many as 790 in late 2005.
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23/09/2005
