wfn.org | Taiwan Church News: Experts Say Cons Outweigh Pros in Cross-Strait Agreements

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>Taiwan Church News

>2960 Edition

>November 17~23, 2008

Experts Say Cons Outweigh Pros in Cross-Strait Agreements

>Reported by: Lin Yi-ying

>Written by: Lydia Ma

Will Taiwan’s economy get better after signing a series of  agreements with China as pro-unification media claim? According to Wang  To-Far, Department of Economics professor at National Taipei University,  the answer is a resounding no. Wang argues that the disadvantages of  signing four cross-strait treaties far outweigh the advantages. In fact,  though direct flights save travel time and transportation costs, they  also increase the amount of travel to China and investments in the  Chinese market at Taiwan’s expense. Taiwanese will be spending over  $21 billion Taiwan dollars more for travel to China and several billion  US dollars more on investments in China after these treaties and all  these additional profits will line Chinese pockets.

Wang worries that Taiwan’s loss of national sovereignty and  security may be of greater concern than economic losses. Chinese  airliners landing directly in Taiwanese airports will provide the  Chinese government ample opportunities to strike Taiwan and gather  sensitive military information. The Chinese government apparently views  these direct flights as “domestic” flights because the  agreements do not allow the airliners to show the national flag of the  Republic of China. This is tantamount to asking Taiwan to renounce its  national sovereignty.

One former national policy adviser predicts that Taiwan will be  marginalized once economic relations between China and Taiwan are  treated as regional relations instead of state-to-state relations. He  argues that China is using economic policies to hasten unification by  urging Taiwanese banks to set up branches in China so that more  Taiwanese money can flow into the Chinese market. Since economic forces  can compromise political independence, economists in Taiwan are urging  the government to strengthen economic ties with Northeast Asian, Latin  American, European, and North American countries to lessen the damage or  impact China will have on Taiwan.

According to Lai I-chung, Taiwan ThinkTank delegate and professor at  Mackay Nursing School, rumors that Taiwan would lose its independence  and be annexed by China within four years of Ma Ying-jeou’s  presidency are not at all far-fetched judging from this president’s  words and actions during and after the meeting with ARATS chairman Chen  Yunlin. The president gave Chinese authorities plenty of opportunities  to tell the world that even the President of Taiwan does not deny the  “One-China policy”. Consequently, the president’s actions  may have further confused and misled Taiwan’s allies into thinking  that Taiwan is indeed not an independent country and Taiwan’s  international affairs are decided and directed by China.

Former National Defense Secretary Chen Jong-Shin pointed out bluntly  that President Ma is ready to move on with a “One-China across the  Taiwan Strait” policy and Taiwan’s autonomy is in peril. If  the Ma-Chen meeting is any indication of things to come, we will see  Taiwanese interests increasingly compromised in future cross-strait  meetings. Hence, whichever way we look at it – trade development,  international recognition, national sovereignty – Taiwan stands to  lose in these cross-straight “talks” because they are not  conducted between two equal entities.

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