Taiwan-China ties at crossroads as vote looms
AFP, Taipei :
Taiwan’s fraught relationship with China will be centre stage this weekend as frustrated voters head to the polls to elect a new Beijing-sceptic leader.
The vote comes after eight years of rapprochement between the two bitterly opposed sides, separated since the end of a civil war in 1949, culminating in a historic summit and handshake beamed around the world.
But the landmark meeting between Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in November only exacerbated growing fears over Beijing’s influence in Taiwan, and voters are pushing back.
Tsai Ing-wen of the traditionally pro-independence main opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is well ahead in the polls, poised to unseat Ma’s Beijing-friendly Kuomintang (KMT).
She has pledged to maintain the current “status quo” with China. But analysts agree a deterioration of ties is inevitable.
“Relations will cool,” says Steve Tsang, professor of contemporary Chinese studies at the University of Nottingham.
“Tsai is unlikely to take actions or say things to provoke Beijing — but Beijing does not trust her.”
The thaw under Ma is unprecedented after decades of hostility following Taiwan’s split from the mainland at the end of the civil war.
Taiwan has evolved into a boisterous self-ruling democracy, but Beijing still sees the island as a renegade province to be reunited, by force if necessary.
Ma argues his Beijing-friendly strategy has brought stability and peace.
However, there is widespread public wariness over warming relations and anger that resulting trade deals have benefited big business, not ordinary voters.
Ties with China were strained under previous DPP president Chen Shui-bian from 2000-2008 due to his staunch pro-independence stance.
Tsai has radically toned down the party’s traditionally pro-independence platform.
But Beijing has repeatedly said it will not deal with any leader unless they recognise there is only “one China”, the bedrock of closer ties under the KMT.
The concept is at the heart of a tacit agreement between the KMT and Beijing, known as the “1992 consensus”, which says there is only “one China” but allows Taiwan its own interpretation.
The DPP does not recognise the “one China” principle or the consensus.
“Adhere to the ‘1992 consensus’ and oppose ‘Taiwan independence’ is the common political basis for peaceful development of cross-strait relations,” a statement issued to AFP by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said.
Taiwan’s fraught relationship with China will be centre stage this weekend as frustrated voters head to the polls to elect a new Beijing-sceptic leader.
The vote comes after eight years of rapprochement between the two bitterly opposed sides, separated since the end of a civil war in 1949, culminating in a historic summit and handshake beamed around the world.
But the landmark meeting between Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in November only exacerbated growing fears over Beijing’s influence in Taiwan, and voters are pushing back.
Tsai Ing-wen of the traditionally pro-independence main opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is well ahead in the polls, poised to unseat Ma’s Beijing-friendly Kuomintang (KMT).
She has pledged to maintain the current “status quo” with China. But analysts agree a deterioration of ties is inevitable.
“Relations will cool,” says Steve Tsang, professor of contemporary Chinese studies at the University of Nottingham.
“Tsai is unlikely to take actions or say things to provoke Beijing — but Beijing does not trust her.”
The thaw under Ma is unprecedented after decades of hostility following Taiwan’s split from the mainland at the end of the civil war.
Taiwan has evolved into a boisterous self-ruling democracy, but Beijing still sees the island as a renegade province to be reunited, by force if necessary.
Ma argues his Beijing-friendly strategy has brought stability and peace.
However, there is widespread public wariness over warming relations and anger that resulting trade deals have benefited big business, not ordinary voters.
Ties with China were strained under previous DPP president Chen Shui-bian from 2000-2008 due to his staunch pro-independence stance.
Tsai has radically toned down the party’s traditionally pro-independence platform.
But Beijing has repeatedly said it will not deal with any leader unless they recognise there is only “one China”, the bedrock of closer ties under the KMT.
The concept is at the heart of a tacit agreement between the KMT and Beijing, known as the “1992 consensus”, which says there is only “one China” but allows Taiwan its own interpretation.
The DPP does not recognise the “one China” principle or the consensus.
“Adhere to the ‘1992 consensus’ and oppose ‘Taiwan independence’ is the common political basis for peaceful development of cross-strait relations,” a statement issued to AFP by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said.
