Taiwan's Ma Ying-jeoh Signals Further Relations with China

After signing a long-awaited investment pact with China, Taiwan’s government is signaling further moves to deepen cross-straits relations.

 

Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeoh this week said the two sides should consider setting up reciprocal representative offices.

 

Taiwan currently has one tourism office in Beijing.

 

The issue was brought up last week during official talks between Taiwanese and mainland representatives, according to Taiwanese media. Ma Ying-jeoh said on Tuesday the issue should be considered, given the level of cross-strait trade. It stands at 160 billion US dollars.

 

US-based author and economics analyst Gordon Chang says the dependency Ma has on the Mainland may be misplaced.

 

[Gordon Chang, Economics Analyst]: 

“The real problem for Taiwan though is that it sees its economy as more tied with China’s but unfortunately China’s economy right now is going through some very severe difficulties, much worse than Beijing is willing to admit, which means Taiwan’s economy will be adversely affected.”

 

Ma Ying-jeoh’s push for more integration with China has been opposed in Taiwan. Many there see the Chinese regime’s goal of unifying Taiwan as a threat to the island's democratic system. But Chang says as cross-strait interaction increases, Taiwan has started to influence mainland citizens, particularly Chinese exchange students.

 

[Gordon Chang, Economics Analyst]: 

“Many of them have come to Taiwan and the first thing they do is go on the Internet to see things that are forbidden in China. So they have looked for things like June 4th, the Tiananmen Massacre. They look for all sorts of things, like the Bo Xilai crisis that they really can’t read in China, and this is sort of like a breath of fresh air.”

 

Taiwan has enacted measures in recent years to reduce the restrictions for tourists and students from China. Ma asked his government on Tuesday to consider further scaling back those limits for Chinese students.