Taiwan leaders' trips take on new twist

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

Opinion

Mon, December 4, 2023 | 09:42

Thoughts of the Times

Taiwan leaders' trips take on new twist

Posted : 2023-04-16 16:45

Updated : 2023-04-16 16:45

By Arthur I. Cyr

President Tsai Ing-wen has just made an important visit to the United States. In reaction, the communist government of China has broadcast predictable belligerency, threatened retaliation and sanctioned selected organizations. This is nothing new.

She met with Speaker Kevin McCarthy of the House of Representatives at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library near Los Angeles, who represents California's 20th Congressional District. The district is in the rich agricultural Central Valley, including part of Sequoia National Park and the Sequoia National Monument.

Meeting with Speaker McCarthy on the West Coast was a shrewd move. President Tsai was greeted by a senior official of the United States government, but one separate from the White House and the executive branch, where any implication of formal recognition of Taiwan would spark a truly serious confrontation with China. She also made a brief stop in New York.

Agriculture represents positive trade for both nations. China is a major customer for U.S. farm products, including a range of feedstuffs. This dimension is well-removed from high-tech sectors, where competition and conflict are intense.

An important aspect of this particular overseas trip is that President Tsai is not the only leader from Taiwan currently to undertake significant travel. While she has been in the United States, Ma Ying-jeou, her predecessor as Taiwan's chief executive, has visited mainland China, with less international publicity.

Former President Ma, with a group of 30 Taiwanese students, toured the mausoleum of Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Republic of China, which successfully replaced the imperial kingdom, and the final emperor of China, in 1911.

The 12-day trip in total included visits to the cities of Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan, Changsha and Chongqing. A particularly important meeting was with Song Tao, the head of China's Taiwan Affairs Council. Song Tao accompanied the Taiwan group from Changsha to Wuhan and hosted a farewell banquet for the delegation in Shanghai, a principal commercial and trade hub in China.

This is important. Informal reciprocal representative offices of both Beijing and Taipei have survived the deterioration of relations in recent years.

Pragmatism characterizes Taiwan's approach to mainland China. Following formal U.S. diplomatic recognition of Beijing in 1978, a consequence of President Richard Nixon's historic 1972 visit, Taipei launched a comprehensive non-confrontational response.

In November 2008, agreement was achieved on direct shipping, expansion of weekly passenger flights from 36 to 108 and adding up to 60 cargo flights per month.

In 2010, the bilateral Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) was concluded. This central accord remains a major triumph of then-President Ma. His election in 2008 and 2012 greatly furthered cooperation with Beijing.

Beijing-Taipei relations reflect the party in power. The center-left Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of President Tsai is formally committed to independence for Taiwan. Her election as chief executive in 2016 marks the deterioration of relations with the mainland.

Beijing has been consistent and unequivocal that any public formal declaration of independence by Taiwan will mean war. The DPP government so far has finessed that matter.

The conservative Kuomintang Party (KMT) of former President Ma (and President Sun Yat-sen) has always declared there is only one China, facilitating relations with Beijing. The KMT government of Nationalist China retreated to Taiwan when communist forces conquered the mainland in 1949.

President Tsai has strongly criticized her predecessor's China visit. However, collaboration between their parties may ultimately be the key to coexistence with Beijing.

Above all, astute diplomacy by Taipei is essential.

Arthur I. Cyr (acyr@carthage.edu) is author of "After the Cold War ― American Foreign Policy, Europe and Asia."