U.s. Interests in the New Taiwan by Martin L. Lasater

Author:Martin L. Lasater [Lasater, Martin L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, General, Asia
ISBN: 9780813383965
Google: 03p2AAAAMAAJ
Goodreads: 4904039
Publisher: Westview Press
Published: 1993-04-20T00:00:00+00:00

Taipei's initial reaction to Tang Shubei's statement was that direct mail, trade, and transportation links between Taiwan and the mainland would not be permitted by the ROC government until relations between Beijing and Taipei are "sailing a smooth course."34 But the cross-Straits dialogue continued at a brisk pace. The Foundation took additional trips to the mainland in July and November 1991. In December the PRC created its counterpart to the Foundation, the Council for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, closely tied to the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office.

One of the most revealing explanations of Taiwan's strategy and policy toward the mainland was given in May 1991 by Ma Ying-jeou, vice chairman of the ROC cabinet's Mainland Affairs Council.35

Ma warned, "if the Chinese Communists refuse to acknowledge us as a political entity, or refuse continuously to renounce the use of force against us, or refuse to stop interfering with our conduct of external relations under the principle of 'one China,' then we will not go on to the second stage" of the national unification guidelines. Ma emphasized that the ROC was not impatient on unification and did not have in mind a timetable, but rather a process of unification. The PRC's "three links," Ma said, will come in the second stage if mutual trust has first been established. Ma commented:

National unification is our unswerving goal, but it is an eventual goal. It is a goal as well as a means The means is intended to achieve national wealth, national strength and people's welfare We do not go to unification for the sole purpose of unification. In other words, we want to make sure that unification is for the benefit of not only the people of Taiwan, but also people on the mainland. If we can continue our present strategy, it would always give Chinese Communist authorities the pressure that they should go for democracy and freedom. If we agree to establish the three links, and to accept their "one country, two systems" scheme, I think we will lose our moral justification, and lose whatever we have in Taiwan.

In a more formal presentation, Ma wrote an authoritative article appearing in the February 1992 edition of Issues and Studies on the subject of ROC policy toward the mainland.36 He said Taiwan's position could be summarized in three points:

"One China, two areas, two political entities"

"Peaceful and democratic unification of China"

"The timing and format of China's unification must first respect the rights and interests of the Taiwan people and safeguard their security and welfare. Unification is to be achieved in three phases" as outlined in the Guidelines for National Unification.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.