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James Huang Incident Reveals the Shallowness of Taiwan's Populist Politics

icon2016/10/17
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James Huang Incident Reveals the Shallowness of Taiwan's Populist Politics

 

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)

A Translation

October 14, 2016

 

Executive Summary:

 

The appointments of Chiang Chun-nan and James Huang as ROC Representative to Singapore were stillborn. Aside from hinting that the Tsai government's "New Southward Policy" is ill-fated, it also reveals the shallowness of Taiwanese populist politics simply cannot pass muster with professional diplomacy. The Tsai government's dirth in diplomatic personnel has been fully revealed.

 

Full Text Below:

 

The appointments of Chiang Chun-nan and James Huang as ROC Representative to Singapore were stillborn. Aside from hinting that the Tsai government's "New Southward Policy" is ill-fated, it also reveals the shallowness of Taiwanese populist politics simply cannot pass muster with professional diplomacy. The Tsai government's dirth in diplomatic personnel has been fully revealed.

 

The Singaporean government refused to accept James Huang as ROC Representative to Singapore for three reasons. First, the Tsai government failed to consult Singapore's government before Tsai government officials leaked the news of James Huang's appointment, clearly a breach of normal diplomatic practice and disrespect of the receiving state. Second, when James Huang's appointment made the news, DPP and Tsai government officials openly boasted that Singapore would become a "command post" to promote the “New Southward Policy.” The Tsai government has not denied this. Treating a receiving state as a strategic base is a diplomatic no-no. Singapore was naturally incensed. Third, in 2008 James Huang was replaced for his involvement in the Papua New Guinea fraud scandal. Wu Sicai, one of the brokers in the scandal, was a Singaporean national, and opened a joint account in Singapore with another broker, Jin Jijiu. The ROC filed suit in Singapore to recover the funds. James Huang's checkbook diplomacy is well known in Singapore, and does him no credit.

 

As the above analysis shows, James Huang's rejection as ROC Representative to Singapore is a major diplomatic setback for the Tsai government. This defeat appears unrelated to pressure from Beijing. Instead, it reflects our own failure to comply with diplomatic professionalism and practice, and our own failure to respect Singapore's position. Especially, Taiwan's self-indulgent populism is in vogue. All operations are solely for domestic political consumption. But in the international arena, it eventually proves to be an embarrassment.

 

James Huang's rejection has nothing to do with pressure from Beijing. For clashes have arisen between the Mainland and Singapore recently as a result of the South China Sea dispute. In the international arena, Singapore has long played a role as middleman and non-aligned nation. But on the South China Sea issue, Singapore's concern for regional strategic balance has led Beijing to conclude that Singapore has cozied up to the US and distanced itself from China. During the Non-Aligned Movement Summit in late September, Singapore proposed that the results of the South China Sea “arbitration” be included in the related documents of the Summit meeting. The proposal was rejected. But the hawkish Mainland Global Daily blasted Singapore for the move. Singapore 's Ambassador to Beijing Luo Jialiang minced no words. The Mainland and Singapore found themselves at odds with each other. Therefore, they could not have joined hands to oppose James Huang's appointment. On the contrary, the decision was made by the Singaporean government on the basis of its own national interests.

 

James Huang was once Minister of Foreign Affairs. Chiang Chun-nan was merely a National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General. Strictly speaking, Huang is far more qualified. The government of Singapore accepted Chiang Chun-nan, yet rejected James Huang. That is indeed interesting. Leave aside personal qualifications for the moment. What angered Singapore was our government's rude, arrogant diplomatic response. This series of faux pas provoked it to say no to signal a warning to Taiwan. Naturally, this includes forbidding Taiwan to use Singapore as a base of operations for its New Southward Policy, thereby creating chaos among the ASEAN nations.

 

Similar problems arose during the Ma era. Shi Ya-ping repeatedly crossed Singapore's diplomatic line in the sand, upsetting relations between the two nations. She displayed the ROC national flag and sang the national anthem on National Day at the mission. She met with opposition parties. He even met with members of the Chinese Communist Party without Singapore's knowledge. Her actions violated Singapore's political taboos. She was even called in by Singapore's deputy foreign minister for a reprimand. Eventually, the chill forced Shi's recall from Singapore. The Shi Ya-ping and James Huang incidents had something in common. Both were handpicked by respective President, but probably because of this, both were cavalier in their actions exceeding the line in the sand of the receiving state.

 

On Taiwan, populist politics has degenerated to the point where nothing is taboo. Anything can be rationalized under the banner of "Love for Taiwan." The superficial nature of Taiwan's populist politics in the diplomatic arena is revealed for all the world to see. Shi Ya-ping raised the ROC national flag and sang the national anthem and met whoever she wanted to see without prior coordination with the Singaporean government. James Huang treated Singapore as a command post for the Tsai government's New Southward Policy. From a populist point of view, why not? The problem is that when we talk about the New Southward Policy, and about "standing tall and marching forth", can we really afford to ignore international protocol or the norms of the receiving states?

 

James Huang was appointed to Singapore in his capacity as director of the Office for New Southward Policy. This in itself revealed the narrowness and dirth of Tsai government pool of talents. Now that Huang was rejected by Singapore for reasons that could not be plainly explained, can he calmly return to his job as director of the Office for New Southward Policy? Early last year, James Huang joined the DPP as new member, and was appointed as director of its International Affairs Department. In fact, he was waiting for the DPP to become the ruling party so as to march again to the diplomatic front. Who knows that “the general failed in his mission even before the battle began,” and after two faux pas, he ended up as a "high-level Secretary in the Presidential Office.”

 

Look around. Whom among Tsai Ing-wen's foreign policy advisers still has the courage to step forward?

 

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