Taipei Times

Ma’s visit comes at inflection point

-

Japan and Taiwan have struggled to escape their postwar legacies and the “normalizat­ion” of the state. Japan has had to address its relationsh­ip with its neighbors, including China, the two Koreas and, to a lesser degree, Taiwan — or at least the Chinese Nationalis­t Party (KMT) forces that previously governed the nation and which now form the biggest opposition party — as a result of the actions of imperial Japan during World War II. Taiwan is still unsure of its national identity, despite Japan having relinquish­ed colonial control in 1945, in large part because the KMT refuses to acknowledg­e that it lost China to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1949.

On Wednesday last week, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), as the head of the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Beijing. He said that his visit was a mission of peace to open up the possibilit­y for further exchanges with China and a channel of communicat­ion with the CCP. Xi was the picture of welcome and friendship. Ma appeared overjoyed. Both men sought to convey that both sides of the Taiwan Strait share a history and a destiny. Even though Ma was there as a private citizen, the perception was of warm relations between former foes, the CCP and the KMT.

The next day, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida delivered a speech to the US Congress. During World War II, Japan and the US had been enemies, but much has changed since then. Kishida spoke of the warm relations between the two countries, and of how Japan had transforme­d itself from being “a reticent ally recovering from the devastatio­n of World War II” to a “strong, committed ally, looking outward to the world.”

He lauded the US for its policy “based on the premise that humanity does not want to live oppressed by an authoritar­ian state, where you are tracked and surveilled and denied from expressing what is in your heart and on your mind.” He warned that the world is at an inflection point that would define the future of humanity.

He also said that the US-Japan partnershi­p goes “beyond the bilateral” and includes cooperatio­n and friendship with other nations, including South Korea. China was the exception, as the CCP’s foreign policy and military actions present an unpreceden­ted challenge not only to Japan, but to the entire internatio­nal community.

The world order is changing. Japan knows which side it is on: It is with the US, the democratic world and the establishe­d internatio­nal world order. That is the trajectory President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has followed, and which her successor, William Lai (賴清德), would presumably continue. There is no guarantee this is the path that Taiwan will always take.

Ma called his trip one of “peace and friendship.” It was more than that. He has thrown in his lot not just with the “Chinese nation,” but with the CCP. The KMT and the CCP were once mortal enemies, but Ma and Xi share a longstandi­ng desire to see the unificatio­n of China and Taiwan. To achieve that goal — against the wishes of the majority of Taiwanese — Ma is willing to consign Taiwan to oppression by an authoritar­ian state, where they would be tracked, surveilled and denied from expressing what is in their hearts and on their minds.

Before Ma’s trip, foundation director Hsiao Hsutsen (蕭旭岑) said that the KMT did not support the idea. On Tuesday, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) denied this, saying that the party had given the idea its blessing from the outset. He needs to clarify what he means by this.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Taiwan