Toward a Strong, Moderate and Positive Taiwan

Toward a Strong, Moderate and Positive Taiwan

By
Vincent C. Siew
US-Taiwan Business Council, Washington, DC
October 5, 2007

Chairman Brock, Rupert, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen:

For years, the US-Taiwan Business Council has established itself as one of the most important forums in which ideas and opinions about Taiwan can be exchanged among politicians, businessmen, academia, and other individuals. I am grateful and feel deeply honored to be invited here to share with you some of my thoughts on my country and the US-Taiwan relationship.

MFN Talks and the Loss of My 11 Teeth

On December 16, 1978, almost thirty years ago, the United Stated announced it would cease its diplomatic relationship with Taiwan. The whole island, out of fear of losing its most important ally, entered a state of panic.

Just on that day, as Deputy Director-General of the Bureau of Foreign Trade, I was planning to visit the US, assisting then Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Wong Yi-ting (汪彝定) in resuming negotiation of the US-Taiwan Most Favored Nation (MFN) agreement. As you can imagine, the new bilateral relationship would have made the difficult task even more challenging. With huge responsibility on my shoulders, I didn’t take a rest during my flight to the US. All I thought about on the plane was how to find ways fighting for more trade opportunities for Taiwan.

Negotiations started immediately upon my arrival in Washington D.C. lasting for two weeks. The bargaining was difficult and I tried my best to persuade our US counterparts to accept or at least to consider our requests.

After ten-day intensive negotiations, we finally reached an agreement, literally the last one before the US officially terminated diplomatic relationship with the Republic of China. This agreement was later included in the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) passed by the US Congress, and became a concrete commitment between the two friends without diplomatic ties. The MFN agreement and our subsequent efforts had not only stabilized our economic relations with the US, Taiwan’s largest export market then, but also helped increase our bilateral trade from US$7.3 billion in 1978 to US$61.2 billion at the present time. In 2006, Taiwan was the US’s eighth largest trading partner, its tenth largest export market, and its eighth largest source of imports. During the two-year-long MFN negotiation process, I lost altogether eleven teeth, thanks to hardwork and tremendous stress. I felt no regret, however. Because I knew that we were heading in the right direction under a competent leadership, and we were doing the good things for all the Taiwan people.




Back and Running Again

Now you may be wondering why a guy like me who has seen it all and done it all is doing this again. My family also wondered about that. So did many of my friends. But after Ma Ying-jeou came to talk with me, no fewer than three times, I no longer had any doubt or hesitation, because we both saw the signs of illness and we both agreed on the prescriptions.

First of all, at a time when Mainland China is surging ahead with double-digit growth rate and expanding its military buildup across the Taiwan Strait, at a time when the entire East Asia is growing rapidly and linking up with one another, Taiwan is increasingly falling behind and being marginalized. In the early 1990s, I remember well, Taiwan’s GDP in terms of dollars was nearly 40 percent of China’s. By 2006 this ratio had dwindled to 20 percent. This or next year the PRC’s Guangdong Province alone will surpass Taiwan in GDP.

Taiwan is also in trouble in other aspects. Due to poor governance, people are beginning to question if democracy is effective in solving the problems of society. In Taiwan, although the Min-nan-ren, the Hakkas, and the mainlanders live and work together in harmony, marry one another, their relationship has always been manipulated and turned into a campaigning issue. This worries many people. Others see a slow but sure decline in terms of Taiwan’s internationalization and liberalization. A latest example is: a world wide survey shows Taiwan ranks only 17th among 20 countries surveyed, behind not only Japan and Korea, but also Vietnam and Thailand.

Furthermore, Taiwan is not only in trouble, but is making trouble for others, including our best friends in the United States. For a long, long time, Taiwan had been hailed either as an economic miracle or as a model student in democractization. Those were the days when we were poor or small, but stood tall and proud. Now unfortunately that image is fading rapidly, to be replaced by one of a trouble-maker in a hot spot. This is most deplorable, to say the least.

When Ma and I talked and talked, we found ourselves both deeply saddened by what we saw in the state of affairs and determined to put an end to the suffering and disgrace of our homeland, Taiwan. The people in Taiwan deserve more and Taiwan deserves more. I hope my return to government will contribute in a small way to the renaissance of my beloved Taiwan


A Strong, Moderate and Positive Taiwan

When Dr. Tom Christensen, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Department of State, spoke of “a strong and moderate Taiwan” recently, I thought to myself: this is exactly what I had in mind.

Indeed, Taiwan should remain strong in the face of the PRC’s heightening military threat. My party, the Kuomintang, has been resisting communist threat for over half a century. For a variety of reasons, and you know better than I do, the communist threat has been transformed into a military threat during the last decade. And powered by rapid economic growth, this threat is looming larger year by year. Taiwan now clearly bears the brunt of this threat. For its own security, not to speak of regional peace, Taiwan should shoulder appropriate responsibilities in resisting the threat and managing it prudently.

A month ago Ma Ying-jeou unveiled the KMT’s defense white paper. He said, if elected, he would build a strong military in Taiwan based on what he called the “hard ROC” strategy. By “hard” he meant we would harden ourselves to an extent that is unshakable with our high morale and undefeatable with our sustained resistance. “ROC” implies that we would center around the concept of the Republic of China, which is probably the common denominator of all sides concerned. Ma also said during his term Taiwan’s defense expenditure will not be lower than three percent of its GDP each year. We will also enhance military cooperation with the US, including acquiring advanced weaponry.

Meanwhile, Taiwan should be moderate and prudent in its handling of the cross-strait relations. A moderate cross-strait relationship serves the interests of all concerned parties in the region, including the US and the PRC. There is now a very strong consensus in the KMT that Taiwan should seek to maintain the status quo. I know this magic term “status quo” is being manipulated for political gain by some people. But to me and to the KMT it has always meant “no unification, no independence, and no use of force.”

For this purpose, we will strive to resume dialogue with Beijing under the principle of “Putting Taiwan First and Giving People’s Interests Top Priority” as well as the so-called “92 consensus.” Suspension of this dialogue during the last nine years (1999-2007) is a major cause of suspicion and confrontation in the cross-strait relations. If elected, we will therefore start negotiations on direct transportation links with the Mainland. We hope, through simultaneous talks with Japan and South Korea, the four airports, now mostly confined to domestic flights, Taipei’s Sunshan, Shanghai’s Hongqiao, Tokyo’s Haneda and Seoul’s Kimpo Airports, will be open to one another. This is what Ma called the Golden Circle of East Asia. I am sure this Golden Circle will prove to be enormously beneficial to all four economies, if implemented.

But Taiwan’s dialogue with the Mainland has never been free of constraints. On the one hand, we disagree with those who view Mainland China only as a threat and always argue for an all-confrontational approach. On the other, our experiences of the past half a century taught us that we ought to approach this relationship with utmost caution and realism. At this historical juncture, in addition to dialogue and direct links, two other issues are equally salient and important.

One is the diplomatic dimension, or what some call the issue of “international space.” This is an issue that has long plagued the relations between Taipei and Beijing, sorely testing their diplomatic and financial resources and threatening to involve other countries into their skirmishes. During the past several years, the contest has become ever more intense, involving more actors, possibly with very grave consequences. The DPP’s latest push for a referendum on UN membership in the name of “Taiwan” is only a recent example. The KMT believes this issue can and should be managed. The role of Taiwan and the rights of its 23 million people in the international community should be respected. A way must be found to allow them to participate meaningfully and contribute appropriately in world affairs. We believe the world is large enough to accommodate both Taiwan and the Mainland. A way can and should be found for Taiwan’s participation without jeopardizing the interests of other countries involved. For this purpose, Ma Ying-jeou proposed during his visit to this country March 2006 that the KMT, if successful in the election, would strive to negotiate directly with Beijing on this specific issue, “tackling it at its roots,” he said. Hopefully a modus vivendi will result from these talks, thus defusing this issue altogether. If it comes true, it will be not only a win-win situation, but a win-win-win, because all the third countries will be spared a big thorn in their bilateral relations with Beijing as well as with Taipei. Judging from all indications since last March, we are confident that this can be done, though not easily.

The other issue of major concern to us is the military dimension. As I said earlier, the PRC’s military threat ought to be treated with utmost seriousness. But deterrence is in and of itself only a necessary condition, but not sufficient. We believe deterrence works best when it combines with assurance and communication. Assurance is needed so that the status quo can be maintained. And communication must be established so that no miscalculation or accident will ensue. Therefore, we intend to initiate talks on confidence-building measures (CBM) and over a longer term a peace accord. It is hoped that, to show its sincerity, the Beijing leadership would remove the medium- and short-range missiles pointed toward Taiwan. This would go a long way toward relieving the Taiwan people of their feelings of alienation toward the Mainland.

Aside from being strong and moderate, we believe Taiwan has a positive role to play in East Asia. Taiwan and the Chinese Mainland are ethnically and linguistically indistinguishable. Yet Taiwan successfully transformed itself from an authoritarian system to a democratic system, from martial law to respect of human rights, from a closed society to an open society. This was accomplished under extremely adverse external circumstances－ of which the people in Taiwan are justifiably proud. Judging from all the evidence, the Mainland is now going through dramatic economic and social changes－ of which I am sure the people in the Mainland are also very proud. But what is next for the Mainland? I think the Taiwan experience may serve as a useful guiding reference. If Taiwan could, why not the Mainland?

Taiwan also has much to contribute in the region of East Asia, where the economies are thriving, the interflows are intensifying, yet the regimes and rules governing international behavior are still in short supply. Across party lines in Taiwan, we have pledged non-proliferation of weapons of massive destruction. We have pledged support for worldwide anti-terror efforts. We have been eager to join in combating epidemics such as SARS. Now and in the future we stand ready to develop a positive agenda on any and all regional issues with all involved and contribute our best effort in turning East Asia into a region of peace and prosperity. We intend to turn Taiwan into a responsible stakeholder, a peace maker, rather than a trouble maker.




Pivotal US-Taiwan Relations

For over half a century, the US has been Taiwan’s closest and staunchest ally in the world. The Bush administration also started out in my memory as one of the friendliest administrations toward Taiwan. It is therefore disappointing, to say the least, to see the US-Taiwan relations plunge into an all-time low and our long and close friendship and mutual trust badly frayed.

I believe firmly that this is only a temporary phenomenon. There is still a very strong base of friendship and mutual trust out there. The bond forged by common values and interests through thick and thin in the past half century is sturdy enough to withstand some blows. What is essential is that we should soon find ways jointly to stop the slide, restore the mutual trust, and rebuild friendship.

In the future we will continue to strengthen our security ties with the US. As President Kennedy used to say, one should not fear to negotiate but should never negotiate from fear. Unlike the DPP, the KMT is willing and able to incorporate dialogue into its management of the cross-strait relations. However, for the dialogue to produce a win-win outcome, it has to be coupled with effective and credible deterrence.

We will also strive to restore mutual trust in our relationship if we are given the popular mandate next spring. Both Ma Ying-jeou and I have built our careers and reputations on integrity and faithfulness – a fact that both of us are very proud of. In the future we hope to return our relationship to one of full consultation and mutual respect. A strong US-Taiwan bond is, I believe, pivotal to peace and stability in East Asia.

As Taiwan moves toward establishing direct links with the Mainland, we hope we could negotiate with the US again on a Free Trade Agreement. In view of our robust bilateral trade, Washington’s FTA arrangement with its other trade partners and the emerging economic and trade framework in Asia, it would serve our joint interest if an FTA is signed between us.

Ladies and gentlemen, I have visited this great city a number of times. But never before did I feel the burden on my shoulders to be so heavy. Nearly thirty years ago I came for trade talks. And the experience was stressful but valuable to me. Now after going through the vicissitudes of my personal life and in view of our “officially unofficial and unofficially official” relations, we seem to have come to another crossroads. I believe what we do in the next six months and what the Taiwan people decide next March will determine not only Taiwan’s future, but also Taiwan’s position in the world.

Until that day, your understanding, patience and friendship is greatly appreciated.

THANK YOU.

Attachment : none