Such ambivalence is understandable. Most people in Taiwan want to enjoy prosperity and live in peace. They want the island’s economy to keep booming as it once did in the 1980s and 1990s, when per capita gross domestic product grew by leaps and bounds.

In reality, however, their hopes are out of reach. The regime change in 2000 marked a watershed in the country’s economic and politico-cultural development. President Chen Shui-bian and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party are not interested in keeping the island’s economic locomotive chugging ahead. The once roaring economy has sputtered as a result of their all-out efforts to promote the cause of Taiwan independence.

Chen’s administration has squandered seven years, a period of economic stagnation and political activism. Chen’s “de-sinicization” — his efforts to sever Taiwan’s political, historical, and cultural ties with mainland China has become the hallmark of his presidency. But his efforts are not without a price. It is the economy that has suffered the most.

When Chen came to power in 2000, Taiwan’s per capita GDP was about US$14,000, larger than South Korea’s. Since then, however, the Koreans have come from behind to overtake Taiwan. In fact, Taiwan is now trailing behind the three other Asian Tigers — Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea.

Hopes for Taiwan to catch up are dim, as Taiwan is entering an election year. The legislative election later this year and the presidential election early next year are life-or-death fights for Chen’s green camp of separatists, who have no time to spare for anything else but winning the election.

The contrast across the Taiwan Strait is even starker. The mainland is sparing no efforts to boost its economy. In 2006, its economy grew by 10.7 percent, doubling its per capita GDP in three years, from US$1,100 in 2003 to US$2,070 in 2006. In Taiwan, the economy in 2006 witnessed an increase of 4.6 percent, according to official statistics.

But this is cold comfort at best, because Taiwan is increasingly marginalized internationally and fragmented domestically. The internal fragmentation, by politicians who play up ethnic and ideological differences, could doom this island to further marginalization. The Beijing Olympics in 2008 and the World Expo in Shanghai in 2010 are events that cast a dark shadow on this island.

But the Year of the Pig is believed to be an auspicious year that brings a flicker of hope to us all. We Chinese believe that people born in pig years are honest, loyal and blessed with good fortune. We hope that Taiwan’s politicians of different stripes will stop going for each other’s jugulars and instead focusing their efforts on the economy.

It goes without saying that the improvement of cross-strait relations is the sine qua non for Taiwan’s economic revival from a long slump. The first step should be the establishment of direct shipping and aviation links between the two sides. Restrictions on mainland Chinese investment in Taiwan and on mainland tourists to Taiwan should be lifted. Taiwan’s self-imposed isolation, including efforts at de-sinicization, is an exercise of folly and futility.

Hopes for Taiwan to regain its past glory are not realistic for now, however. But we should not despair. We should have faith in Taiwan’s fledgling democracy, under which voters elect candidates to public office with ballots. In the year of the pig, and in the following year, voters are given the chances to realize their hopes for a better future. There should be no reason for despair.

Subscribe to The China Post and save.  Click here

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Enter your comments - 1000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos Respond to this email