Beijing Begins to Get Impatient with Taiwan

Joe Hung, China Post August 10, 2009

Beijing allowed Chinese foreign direct investment in Taiwan. It has started providing loans for Taiwan businesses in China caught in the grips of the concomitant credit crunch and is ready to let Taiwan banks open branches on the Chinese mainland to help them. Taiwan is risking the danger of being marginalized economically as a new free trade zone is emerging in Asia. Commonly referred as the Ten-plus-One, the zone comes into being on January 1 next year.

Taiwan isn't included in the free trade bloc, within which China and all ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will collect no import tax. China plans to help Taiwan by signing an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) by early next year.

Much of what China considers its largess to Taiwan has been given by orders of Hu Jintao, who had to outbalance the objection of hawkish members of his collective leadership team. Leaders of the People's Liberation Army, ever prepared to take over Taiwan by force, oppose policies that may make its potential enemy economically strong.

The hawks insist a confidence building mechanism, at least, be set in place before Beijing should try to conclude the peace treaty Hu wants. There's no indication that Taiwan's military is ready for dialogue to prevent an outbreak of hostilities by accident.

On the other hand, Taipei has made no response to Beijing's peace overture. President Ma avoids touching on eventual unification, which is sanctified in the Guidelines for National Unification and which he proclaimed in the lead-up to the 2008 election is the permanent platform of his Kuomintang. While campaigning, Ma stressed the importance of the peace treaty and expressed desire to sign it with China after his election.

Now he is saying Taipei won't talk on political issues with Beijing during his current term and he may start talking about them if he is re-elected in 2012. By then Hu Jintao has to retire as president as well as general-secretary of the Chinese Communist Party.

The easiest way to make sure that Beijing's patience does not snap anytime soon is to reaffirm the ultimate purpose Taiwan wishes to achieve by the implementation of the guidelines, adopted by the National Unification Council President Lee Teng-hui created in 1990.

President Chen Shui-bian made the council "cease to function"� and the guidelines "cease to apply"� in 2005, heightening tensions across the Strait. Chen claimed victory by "factually terminating the council,"� despite the strong objection of Uncle Sam who regarded the termination as the reneging of a presidential promise made on his inauguration in 2000 and 2004.

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Beijing Begins to Get Impatient with Taiwan

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