"Unification Campaign" through Pineapples and Custard Apples？How the DPP Has Confidence to Talk Nonsense
The Storm Media Editorial, June 23, 2023
After 638 days, the Taiwan Affairs Office of mainland China’s State Council announced on June 20 that Taitung custard apples can be exported to the mainland again. If everything goes well, shipping of the fruit can resume by the end of the year.
As usual, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) labeled the announcement as China’s “united front tactics.” And the Council of Agriculture (COA), Executive Yuan, continued their routine statements requesting to resume dialogue on scientific and technical aspects through the Cross-Strait Arrangement on Cooperation of Agricultural Product Quarantine and Inspection; however, the export of Taiwan’s agriculture and fishery products to the mainland had been suspended for various reasons in recent years, and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) always acted at its wits’ end.
Almost at the same time, it was rumored that Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), in his coming white paper on state affairs, intended to jump-start the negotiation of the service trade agreement with China, but was encircled and suppressed by the pro-DPP camp. Mr. Ko retorted, “Why won’t Tsai Ing-wen simply abolish the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA)?” He further questioned the DPP, the largest party in the parliament, how long it will delay passing the “Act on Cross-Strait Agreement Supervision” that has been on the shelf of the Legislative Yuan for almost eight years.
All this only shows one thing: the DPP, which has been in power twice for 15 years, is completely incapable of handling cross-strait relations. Their so-called cross-strait policy is a hollow policy for escalating hostility. The irony is that the MAC, which has almost “no official duties” except for issuing press releases to criticize Beijing, still receives exorbitant salaries. The COA, whose job is to help the farmers and fishermen, still failed to promote their products overseas. It was the Taitung County Government, not the COA, that bargained directly with mainland Chinese authorities to help resume exports of custard apples to the mainland.
The DPP administration regards cross-strait exchanges as a great scourge. When the DPP was not the ruling party, some of its mayors and county executives had visited the mainland to promote products and tourism within their jurisdictions. Vice President William Lai visited mainland China under the cover of a “cultural tour” when he was mayor of Tainan City. If Mr. Lai can do it, why can’t County Executive Yao Ching-ling of Taitung County? The DPP rejects the Strait Forum as a “united front tactic,” and even the Mazu goddess is regarded as a “united front of local beliefs,” ignoring the fact that folk beliefs on both sides have the same origin. When Mr. Ko was mayor of Taipei, he continued to sponsor the Twin-City Forum with Shanghai that infuriated the DPP.
For more than seven years, President Tsai has always publicly stated that the door to cross-strait communication is always open. She told Taiwanese business people working in the mainland at a Spring Festival gathering earlier this year that she was willing to conduct dialogue with Beijing. But it turns out that the DPP smeared cross-strait exchanges. Former President Ma Ying-jeou’s trip to the mainland to pay respects to his ancestors and his inviting mainland students to tour Taiwan suffered many obstacles set by the DPP. In terms of cross-strait policies, Mr. Lai’s “confinement” is even worse than President Tsai’s. It is no wonder that Ko’s proposal for resurrecting the talks on cross-strait service trade was besieged by the DPP.
After more than seven years with the DPP in power, there are no agreements between the two sides of the straits. Tsai opposed ECFA most strongly before she took office as president, but her position has changed from “abolishing ECFA by referendum” to “no one-sided abolition even if elected.” So, what’s wrong with Ko’s proposal to restart the negotiation？
The DPP advocates Taiwan Independence but dares not to declare it, while unabashedly lauding itself a reputation of “pragmatic Taiwan independence,” but fiercely attacking political opponents or smearing opponents as followers of Communist China. This no longer just shows their “double standard” but reflects a “poor party quality.” The DPP pointed fingers at Mr. Ko, why not reflect on their own cross-strait policy first? Do they advocate cross-strait exchange at all? How do they view Taiwanese business people on the other side of the strait? The DPP denounces this way out of the agricultural produce export ban on Taiwan as being subservient to China, but they should take a look at the annual surplus in exports to mainland China. Is the DPP ready to return to the old days of the “iron curtain?” The DPP can’t close mainland China’s open door to the outside world, but it is trying to use words to restrain the Taiwanese businesspeople and fishermen's hands and feet. In the end, what it can reflect is Mr. Lai’s support in the opinion polls.