Sixteen pacts signed in Mr. Ma s first term, all business-related,raised the confidence level while bringing billions of US dollars to Taiwanese companies. But the president, oftencriticized at home for getting too close to China, considers apeace accord too risky without public support, experts say. Mr.
Mafloated the idea last year as he sought reelection but dropped itwhen the anti- Beijing main opposition stirred up complaints. It s unclear how a peace accord would be worded or carried outwhile the two sides lack formal diplomatic ties, says AlexanderHuang, a strategic studies professor at Tamkang University inTaiwan. Some fear that a peace agreement, though reassuring byitself, would open doors to less welcome deals that merge the twosides politically. Political trust is very low, Mr.
Huang says. Even if you signan accord with champagne, people will still think that if [China]gets mad, they would tear up the agreement and fire at us. How will China react? Taiwan will first handle easy but pressing issues with China, andonly then handle harder ones, putting economic issues beforepolitical ones, Ma said. In that vein, there is no urgency todiscuss a peace accord now with mainland China, and Taiwan speople must first express a high level of support, including avoter referendum.
Leaders in Beijing will not welcome the deferral of a peace accord,says Raymond Wu, managing director of the political riskconsultancy e-telligence. They see deals with Taiwan as stepstoward political unification between the two sides. But officials in China are preoccupied with domestic economicproblems and a leadership transition over the next year, Mr. Wusays, so unless Taiwan declares independence, they may stay quiet.
China has claimed sovereignty over Taiwan since the Chinese civilwar of the 1940s. Ma s Nationalist Party, which once ruled all ofChina, fled to Taiwan in that decade and set up a rival government.Communist China has never ruled out the use of military force tocapture the self-ruled island Support in Taiwan Ma, who won 51 percent of the vote in January, added on Sunday thathe had broad support for the current pace of improved relationswith China. Forty-five percent of Taiwanese people back today s momentum, hetold the news conference. Ten to 20 percent favor picking up thepace, and 20 to 30 percent advocate a slower approach, he said.About 70 percent support his current policy of neither unifyingwith China nor declaring de jure independence, the president said. Tensions rode high before 2008 as Ma s predecessors toyed with theidea of seeking independence for the island, which lies just 160kilometers (100 miles) away from China.
Beijing test-fired missilesnear Taiwan in the late 1990s and reiterated the threat of force in2005. China has about 2 million active military personnel comparedwith Taiwan s 290,000. In a signal of how Taiwan s public might react to a peace accord,thousands of people blanketed Taipei over the weekend to protest against Ma s government. Many shoutedslogans or wore T-shirts to advocate a more cautious approachtoward China.
We want to let President Ma know how angry we are, says ChenHsien-che, a cosmetics worker from northern Taiwan. China is acommunist country. To suddenly be impacted by China, people on thisisland after living here so many years wouldn t be able to carryon. I am a professional writer from Umbrellas & Raincoats, which contains a great deal of information about 38mm thermal paper , cheap mechanical pencils, welcome to visit!
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