FRIEND OR FOE?A former DPP official said improved cross-strait ties had placed the armed forces in a difficult position because they no longer knew how to view China
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
The controversial “one country, two areas (一國兩區)” concept proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) could jeopardize Taiwan’s sovereignty, political analysts said yesterday.
The analysts said the proposal, which was touted by former KMT chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) during a meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) on March 22 in Beijing, has “sold out Taiwan’s sovereignty in an irreversible way.”
As to why President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration had chosen to make the proposal at this moment in time, it “could be either a reward for Beijing’s support of his re-election campaign or a gateway for upcoming political talks,” former representative to the US Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said at a forum organized by the Taiwan -Association of University Professors.
“Ma’s acceptance of the political framework of ‘one country, two areas’ has opened the door for the political talks that China’s leaders are eager to start,” Wu added.
Hu said on Dec. 31, 2008, that political negotiations according to China’s Taiwan policy would be based on the “one China” principle and include ending cross-strait -hostilities, signing a peace agreement and introducing military -confidence-building measures.
“Ma has never challenged Beijing’s roadmap,” Wu said.
Wu added that his biggest concern was an end to hostilities, which would effectively mean the end of the Chinese civil war between the Chinese Communist Party and the KMT, because Taiwan would “never be able to break away from the ‘one China’ framework after that.”
Not only did the proposal violate the Republic of China Constitution, former minister of national defense Michael Tsai (蔡明憲) said, it also undermined Taiwan’s security.
The “warming” of cross-strait ties and the political implications that underpin the “one country, two areas” proposal has placed the nation’s armed forces in a difficult position because now they do not know “whether China is a friend or foe,” he said.
While both sides of the Taiwan Strait have reaped benefits from reduced cross-strait tensions, the number of Chinese missiles aimed at Taiwan and the number of Chinese submarines intruding into Taiwan’s territorial waters has -continued to increase, he added.
Wu and Tsai both said a national referendum should be the “last line of defense” for Taiwanese if the nation’s sovereignty is brought into question at some point in the future.
Former National Security Council deputy secretary-general Parris Chang (張旭成) told the forum that the “one country, two areas” represented a step backward from the positions of two former presidents — Lee Teng-hui’s (李登輝) “state-to-state relations” and Chen Shui--bian’s (陳水扁) “one country on each side” of the Taiwan Strait.