She Closed a Door, But Could Not Open a Window

 She Closed a Door, But Could Not Open a Window

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)

May 21, 2017

 Translation of an Except

May 20 marks the anniversary of President Tsai Ying-wen's inauguration; all circles originally expected to listen to her speech, which would sum up what she did in the past year, offer some reflections, and at the same time present a new direction for thinking and a new strategy. Unexpectedly, for this important date, President Tsai rather chose to remain quiet, not making any public speeches, and of course, no retrospect or prospects, let alone anything about possible turns or modifications of national strategy. Does this kind of quietness mean that Tsai Ing-wen decided to "maintain the status quo," or is it that she is still pondering ways to cope with the situation?

"Maintaining the status quo" is the interpretation of cross-Strait relations given by Tsai Ing-wen on assuming power, but this phrase has become her predicament. In fact, when she refused to recognize the 1992 Consensus, the "status quo" maintained by both sides of the Strait for eight years was already undermined. Days ago President Tsai introduced her advocacy on a "new cross-Strait questionnaire," indicating that she understood that the "status quo" no longer existed. The problem is that she still hasn’t thought through how to answer; it is even possible that she is not ready to answer.

This predicament of neither moving forward or backtracking is precisely one of the main reasons why Tsai Ying-wen’s poll ratings have plummeted. She hastily closed the cross-Strait gate, seriously undermining the tourism industry, while the diplomatic front was also greatly affected. The paths to RCEP, One Belt/One Road, and TPP have all been cut off. Meanwhile, she pulled out all the stops to advocate the "New Southward Policy" but no progress could be seen. Recently, Vietnam and Beijing made public a joint communiqué which is tantamount to erecting a new roadblock in the "New Southward Policy."

Simply put, in cross-Strait relations, she closed a door, but in the New Southward Policy, she on the other hand, could not even open a small window after so much time; this makes Taiwan feel even more restrained and stifled in economics and foreign affairs. Under such circumstances, the public of course will doubt whether this cross-Strait policy with no care for the price is wise.

Tsai Ing-wen believes that Taiwan could bypass China and enter the world; the New Southward Policy reflects this kind of thinking. However, is bypassing China such an easy thing? For today’s Taiwan, the government rather believes that as long as we shout at the top of our lungs "New Southward Policy" slogans, sesame will open the doors automatically; one could only say that it was naivety to the extreme. What is more risky is that up to this moment, we don’t see any concrete results of the New Southward Policy, but the change in the tone of cross-Strait relations, on the other hand, restrained and blocked Taiwan’s path to take part in the One Belt, One Road initiative as well as TPP; the gains don’t make up for the losses.

Closing a door takes little effort; however, opening a window, on the other hand, is something difficult to achieve even with all the means at our command. Tsai Ying-wen should be able to appreciate this simple picture.

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