31.03.2023
Analysts believe that China has gradually increased the level of reception for former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou’s visit. In contrast, the current Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, who is currently visiting the United States, has a relatively low-key itinerary. Why is this?
(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) Different from the original plan, Song Tao, Director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council of China, had a meeting with former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou on Thursday (March 30) evening.Meeting in WuhanAccording to the analysis, the Chinese side is “gradually heating up” Ma Ying-jeou’s first visit, but at the same time, Taiwan’s incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen, who is on a transit visit to the United States, has turned to a low-key itinerary, and the contrast between the two sides is obvious.
Different from the original scheduled itinerary, Song Tao met with Ma Ying-jeou and his party at Wuhan Donghu Hotel from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm on the 30th, and then held a banquet. Taiwan’s “United Daily News” reported that Song Tao will accompany Ma Ying-jeou and his party on a trip to Hubei and Hunan in the next few days, including Ma Ying-jeou’s ancestor worship and grave-sweeping trips. Chen Yuanfeng, deputy director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, also accompanied the meeting and the trip in the next few days.
Due to the very delicate requirements of the work, the Chinese staff will meet almost every night until 11 o’clock before giving the media the itinerary for the next morning. “The itinerary is always changing.”
Professor Li (pseudonym), a Chinese scholar who did not want to be named, told DW: “Beijing is very good at grasping the rhythm. (The reception specification for Ma Ying-jeou) is neither low and low, nor high and low, but echoes the theme of ancestor worship, mainly by officials. Accompany.”
Song Tao, director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council of China, met with former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou in Wuhan on the evening of the 30th, and gradually raised the level of reception
Professor Li divided Ma Ying-jeou’s visit to China into three parts: the first part is the political announcement in Nanjing and Wuhan, the middle part is the cautious pursuit of Hunan, and the last part includes Shanghai. It should be looking forward to the future of both sides of the Taiwan Strait. It’s just halfway there, and the follow-up is worth watching, (the itinerary) everything is possible.”
As for whether higher-level people will come out to receive the second half of the itinerary, he believes that people from all walks of life care about the level of reception Ma Ying-jeou receives from China, but it is not the point. The reception and the design of the itinerary itself are more important to the CCP,” Ma said Just do what you need to do, and just enjoy (enjoy the journey) afterwards.”
Scholars disagree on horses
Liao Yuanhao, an associate professor of the Law Department of National Chengchi University who accompanied Ma Ying-jeou on a visit, told DW that from Song Tao’s speech, China has retreated to the position of letting Taiwan or Ma Ying-jeou emphasize “one China, each table”. “They (referring to China) can bear it. Accept, the flexibility of the “1992 Consensus” can be seen.”
Liao Yuanhao believes that Song Tao did not mention “one country, two systems” or the People’s Republic of China during the talks. Ma Ying-jeou also mentioned the “1992 Consensus” many times in front of him, and confirmed that the “1992 Consensus” that Taiwan said was ” “One China, all representations”, China expressed its willingness to give space to this, and it does not violate China’s position.
Liao Yuanhao interpreted that Ma Ying-jeou’s cultural identity is very important, and he has a strong Chinese sentiment, so the Chinese side feels that his speech can be trusted. The same slogan is not necessarily so credible (in China),” he said.
Ma Ying-jeou inscribed his inscription on the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing on the 30th, and the time is recorded in both the Republic of China and the Christian era
Regarding Ma Ying-jeou’s repeated mention of the Republic of China and the former president’s status in China, the Chinese side did not protest, and even gradually raised the reception standards. Professor Li believes: “Since you are here (China), you are a guest, so there is no reason to be humiliated. It is definitely not the way to treat guests.” Regarding Song Tao’s speech, he believed that this should be conveying the original words of Chinese President Xi Jinping, “Anyway (the Chinese official’s evaluation of Ma Ying-jeou) is very high”, it can almost be said that “it is already similar to the shining History,” he said.
But some scholars take a different view. Taiwan’s “Liberty Times” reported that Chen Lifu, president of the Taiwan Professors Association, said that China supported Russia, undermined the stability of East Asia, and violated human rights in Xinjiang and Tibet. It was considered a bad country internationally, but Ma Ying-jeou echoed China, bullying, hurting and splitting Taiwan. An image of solidarity at the international level.
Wang Zhisheng, secretary-general of the China Asia-Pacific Elite Exchange Association, also analyzed that Ma Ying-jeou emphasized that the KMT and the Communist Party are one family, echoing Xi Jinping, catering to the Chinese view of history,Become a chess piece of China’s United Front。
Tsai Ing-wen’s U.S. visit turns low-key
The US “Wall Street Journal” reported that although the trip to New York, which began on Wednesday, is Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen’s first official overseas trip since mid-2019, despite this,President Tsai Ing-wen largely out of the public eye。
The U.S. diplomatic agreement with China stipulates that any visit by the leader of Taiwan will be low-key. The atmosphere of Tsai Ing-wen’s two-night trip to New York was very cautious. The invitation to a themed dinner for her on Thursday did not initially mention her by name or the location of the event, other than “a very special guest.”
Tsai Ing-wen was presented with the Global Leadership Award at a gala hosted by the Hudson Institute on Thursday night. According to Taiwan’s Central News Agency, Zhang Dunhan, deputy secretary-general of Taiwan’s presidential office, relayed the key points of Tsai Ing-wen’s award speech, describing the award as a tribute to the tenacity and courage of the Taiwanese people in their pursuit of democracy. Tsai Ing-wen also mentioned that in the face of China’s pressure, Taiwan is the responsible party. Although Taiwanese people hope for peace, “history tells us that the best way to avoid war is to make ourselves more powerful.”
The conservative think tank did not publicly announce the event or mention her in the invitation ahead of the awards event, calling it a private event. That’s a departure from previous years, when the award went to former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley.
Tsai’s first stop in New York on Thursday was a remote bakery in Brooklyn, where she also told The Wall Street Journal that she was not supposed to be interviewed.
Robert Ross, a political scientist at Boston College, said: “President Tsai’s visit comes in a very different political environment than in the past.」
Tsai will not meet with any senior officials in the Biden administration, according to people involved in the plan. Beijing has warned that it will strike back if Tsai meets with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. McCarthy is expected to lead other members of Congress to meet Tsai in California next week.
Outside a hotel in New York, supporters of Tsai Ing-wen waved Taiwanese and American flags.
Meanwhile, Chinese diplomats in Washington and New York scheduled press conferences to condemn Tsai’s visit, which also overlapped with her visit. Following Ms. Tsai around the city were three buses carrying demonstrators waving Chinese flags and chanting slogans from megaphones at key stops, outnumbering those cheering Ms. Tsai with Taiwanese flags.
“The Chinese community doesn’t want troublemakers here,” said Qian Jin, deputy consul of the Chinese Consulate General in New York. He reiterated Beijing’s view that Tsai’s visit to the United States violated diplomatic agreements with the United States.
Taiwan’s president’s stay in the United States has always been carefully arranged. Successive U.S. presidential administrations have tried to balance the desire to express support for Taiwan with the risk of heightened tensions with Beijing. As a result, a stop in Washington never appeared on the itinerary. Instead, the Taiwanese president can only make phone calls to senior officials while in the United States, sometimes from a plane parked on the tarmac.
“The bottom line is that the nature of this transit varies and remains flexible, depending on each U.S. government and how, at a given time, Look at our interests in Taiwan and Beijing.”
(comprehensive report)
Former Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen went to the United States for a transit visit, but her itinerary became increasingly low-key. The picture shows her arrival in New York on the 29th
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