Scholars assert Taiwan is rushing cross-strait talks

“China seemed to take the leading role at the negotiating table, as it holds all the chips, “ said Chang Wu-yue, associate professor at Tamkang University’s Institute of China Studies.

“The economy is the main consideration for Taiwan, while China’s major concerns are political, “ Chang said in explaining Taiwan’s dilemma at a forum held by the pro-independence Taiwan Thinktank to discuss the mid-June talks between Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and the prospects for future meetings.

The two quasi-official bodies formally agreed to launch direct cross-strait charter flights on weekends and an expansion of Chinese tourist arrivals in Taiwan, beginning July 4.

But the scholars argued that despite the positive atmosphere surrounding the meeting, China was still holding bargaining chips to gain further advantage in the talks.

“Beijing will not give too much at once in order to save the chips for negotiations later,” Chang said.

He added that China only showed good will by agreeing to launch the weekend charter flights July 4 and to allow Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan beginning July 18.

Beijing avoided, however, discussion on issues that seemed more important to Taipei, such as increasing flight frequencies, opening more airports to the flights or launching charter cargo flights, Chang argued.

Lo Chih-cheng, chairman of Soochow University’s Department of Political Science and a member of the executive committee of Taiwan Thinktank, said Beijing wants to keep the momentum in negotiations between Taiwan and China by offering incentives every month, not only to demonstrate its predominance on cross-strait issues, but also to maintain the harmonious political atmosphere that China wishes to see.

“Both sides of the Taiwan Strait face pressure not to let bilateral relations go backwards, but there are also obstacles that are hard to overcome,” Lo contended.

He said sensitive issues such as sovereignty will have to be dealt with at some point, and that point could come as soon as September when Taiwan has to decide how to frame its bid to join the United Nations or in November when Taipei decides who to send to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Peru.

Lo said the two agreements on weekend charter flights and Chinese tourists could help Taiwan’s economy in the short term, but they could edge out Japanese tourists, who are actually bigger spenders than Chinese tourists.

Local tourists might also be crowded out by Chinese visitors, he suggested.

“Even though the atmosphere is good, we have to balance the books some time or other,” Lo said.

Participants at the seminar called on Ma not to rush to deliver on his campaign promises but rather spend time formulating acomprehensive strategy on cross-strait negotiations.

They also suggested that the Legislative Yuan play a more active role to supervise all agreements signed between Taiwan and China by the SEF and ARATS, as the establishment of a verification procedure at the Legislative Yuan is not only essential but also can increase Taiwan’s leverage at the negotiating table.

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