If Mistaken Means Is Added to Mistaken End

  If Mistaken Means Is Added to Mistaken End

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

January 23, 2018

 Translation of an Excerpt

With regard to the dispute surrounding Flight Route M503, Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA), using the means of not approving two Mainland airline operators to add flights for the Chinese New Year’s holidays, attempted to make the other side of the Strait return to consultations. Unexpectedly, the use of the right of Taiwanese businessmen to return home for the Chinese New Year’s holidays as a bargaining chip aroused on the contrary outside criticisms that Taiwan compatriots have been deemed as "hostages." To resolve the flight route dispute, but adopting obviously incompatible means, it will, we are afraid, be difficult to achieve the expected end; it might deflate our fury for a while, but it will elicit greater grievances.

The approach of handling this incident, besides exposing the immaturity on the technical level of the government in coping, it also reflects the dearth in thinking at the cross-Strait strategic level. First, the predicament at the cross-Strait strategic security level, trying to use administrative level tactics to cope with it is predetermined to fail as a resolution. Second, using additional flights for the Chinese New Year’s holidays as bargaining chips, the main impact would be on Taiwanese businessmen and Taiwan compatriots on the Mainland who want to return home for the holidays; it nevertheless did not hit the Achilles’ heel of the other side, but instead hurt ourselves. Third, judging from the level of the CAA, the Mainland Affairs Council, the Straits Exchange Foundation, they have no ability to bear political missions of this category, looking like a mistaken end entrusted to mistaken officials for implementation, a mistake compounded by another.

Going to the bottom, the question of Flight Route M503 is but a castle in the air, showing the Tsai government’s cross-Strait policy is not working. If the government does not fundamentally change its anti-China strategic thinking, the setbacks for Taiwan's participation in international organizations will come one after another. The future of the New Southward Policy contains in reality shadows of misgivings, and no matter how hard government officials work, it will be impossible to camouflage their sense of futility.

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