Both Sides of Taiwan Strait Belong to One Family, Ma-Xi Meeting Promoting Great Exchanges
China Times Editorial, April 11, 2024
Former President Ma Ying-jeou returned to Taiwan after an 11-day trip to mainland China. As the highlight of the trip, the meeting of former President Ma and Chinese President Xi Jinping held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing blew some warm air to the long-frozen cross-strait relations. Taiwan’s people have generally focused on the vivid images of the Ma-Xi meeting, but the more important point is how to decipher the complex political messages released by Beijing to Taiwan.
Xi’s Soft Tone Gives Taiwan Face-Saving Exit
It is undeniable that because of the complicated historical and political entanglements and the unequal strengths across the Taiwan Strait, when facing mainland China, Taiwan has always demanded equality, dignity, and correct nomenclature. This mentality has manifested after the Ma-Xi meeting when the media and political commentators all but emphasized the topics that President Ma blurted out “Republic of China” by mistake and mentioned the part of respective interpretations of the “1992 Consensus” to the mainland side. But these comments blurred the focus of the meeting; to the contrary, the true purpose is how to get rid of the danger of war and re-establish peace and prosperity as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) continues to hold power for a third term.
In contrast to Mr. Xi’s warm and concise opening remarks at the meeting, mainland China’s long official press release after the meeting should serve as a source to find important points and new ideas. Mr. Xi’s four points enunciated at the meeting are the longest remarks on cross-strait relations after his statement of “one country, two systems and Taiwan approach” made in January 2019. The biggest difference is Mr. Xi’s new remarks are in persuasive and sentimental tones and are not filled with political language and statements as five years ago.
Examining Mr. Xi’s long remarks, many signals about the restoration of cross-strait exchanges are latent, so it is worthwhile for President-elect William Lai’s team to pay close attention and study them. First, on the long-delayed issue of bilateral tourism, Mr. Xi said that Beijing warmly welcomes people from Taiwan to the mainland and is happy to see mainlanders visit Taiwan. His remarks give a face-saving exit to relevant authorities on both sides and boost the morale of Taiwan’s tourism industry.
After the presidential election this year, the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen suddenly announced the ban on Taiwan’s tourist groups to mainland China, this is because of Tsai administration’s dissatisfaction with the mainland’s use of M-503 air route and its delayed opening up of mainland Chinese tourists to Taiwan. The Tsai administration demands that cross-strait interactions be bilateral, equal, and mutually beneficial. Ironically, when responding to relevant questions, mainland Chinese officials always criticized that it is the Taiwan side that restricts cross-strait interactions, so the facts are unclear. Now that Mr. Xi has said that he is happy to see mainlanders visit Taiwan, can his words be translated into the relaxation of cross-strait visits?
To interpret Mr. Xi’s remarks from a broader angle, since he is happy to see two-way visits of people across the Taiwan Strait, does he hint that he has no intention to unify Taiwan by force and intends to rein in the spiral of animosity? Moreover, during the meeting, although Mr. Xi reiterated his position on the promotion of unification, his wordings are clothed in “joint pursuit of a good future of peaceful unification.” This shows that mainland China does not change its position on peaceful unification and the tone is milder that the unification will be in the future. The wording “joint pursuit” also implies that the mainland does not intend to coerce Taiwan into unification.
Lai Administration Should Face the Reality Pragmatically
During the Ma-Xi meeting, Mr. Xi did not mention the DPP at all, but he clearly aimed at the May 20 presidential inauguration. Mr. Xi said that the core of the “1992 Consensus” is that there is a common acknowledgement that both sides belong to one country and one nation, and as long as there is no separation of the country and acknowledging both sides are Chinese belonging to one family, then people on both sides can sit down and talk. Eight years ago, before the inauguration of President Tsai, mainland China’s words were that Taiwan should recognize the historical facts of the “1992 Consensus” and identify with its core meaning so that there is a common political basis for maintaining good interactions. Mr. Xi’s current statement indicates that the mainland now realizes that the “1992 Consensus” has been wrongfully labeled in Taiwan and wants to find new common languages based on national sentiments.
The hidden message is that as long as people on Taiwan can identify with the Chinese nation and acknowledge both sides are Chinese belonging to one family, Beijing is willing to engage in dialogue with various sectors of Taiwan. This also shows in the arrangement that the group of students from Taiwan could speak during the Ma-Xi meeting. Different from past practices, when mainland China only dialogued with carefully selected young people from Taiwan, this time Mr. Xi exceptionally invited young students from Taiwan to have a face-to-face dialogue, which marks the first time that high-level mainland Chinese officials met with people from Taiwan. The young people in the group may not necessarily be supporters of Kuomintang (KMT) and may not support unification, but at least they can identify with the Chinese nation and culture. One can find from this detail that the mainland intends to surpass the hard premises of political principles and instead communicates with Taiwan’s young people on the basis of common bloodline, sentiments, and historical memories.
The message released by mainland China on the Ma-Xi meeting is that based on national sentiments, Beijing is happy to see people-to-people interactions and encourages exchanges among young people. Transforming into political languages, this means that if the new Lai administration can adhere to the constitutional system of the Republic of China, face squarely the historical facts that both sides of the Taiwan Strait are of the same culture and race, and adopt a practical position on cross-strait relations, then the restoration of huge waves of mainland Chinese visitors and students to Taiwan can be expected in the near future.
From: https://www.chinatimes.com/opinion/20240411004410-262101?chd