The general perception is that Taipei and Beijing were treated on an equal footing in all activities during his visit. Official media in mainland China for the first time called Taiwan officials by their official titles. In Taipei, Chen even addressed Wang Jin-pyng, president of the Legislative Yuan, as “President Wang.” The only disappointment was that during his meeting with President Ma on the final day of his tour, he did not clearly call Ma “president.” Instead, he used “nin,” which was a deferential form of “you” in Chinese.

On the part of Ma, he made no mistake in reminding Chen that he is the president. In fact, calling people by their official titles should not be a significant issue at all, as long the two sides are treated with parity during the cross-strait exchanges. It became an increasingly hot question, only because of the manipulation by the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which kept saying that if Ma is not addressed as “president,” the dignity of the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan as a sovereign state will be seriously impaired.

As a result, all Taiwanese are focusing their attention on this point, which became the main theme of the violent and bloody anti-government and anti-Chen protests sponsored by the DPP. Everyone knows that what a person is called is merely a formality, with little substantial meaning. Recent developments have indicated that Beijing has become more and more flexible and pragmatic in handling Taiwan affairs, by not denying Taipei as an independent political entity.

Against this background, Chen should have faced reality by calling President Ma as such to satisfy the persistent demand of dissidents here, without causing Beijing to sacrifice anything substantial.

While visiting Taiwan, Chen was, by and large, perceived as an intelligent, calm and professional diplomat. His emotional remarks upon arrival and his composure displayed in front of the violent protests that dogged him wherever he went, won widespread acclaim. But, if Chen had addressed Ma as president, his trip would have been much more successful.

How China deals with this question of calling Taipei’s government officials by their titles is directly related to its grand strategy toward Taiwan. An elaborate display of goodwill gestures by Beijing, we believe, would be the best and most effective method.

1|2|Next Page>>

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Enter your comments - 1000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos Respond to this email