Joseph Wu On Cross-Strait Ties

Earlier this week, Taiwan's Representative to the U.S. Joseph Wu spoke at an open event in downtown DC.

Among other things, Wu pointed out that China's Taiwan policy was more effective under President Hu Jintao (胡锦涛) than under Jiang Zemin (江泽民) in terms of reaction time. Wu noted that Hu's reactions were swifter, "almost instantaneous, sometimes as quick as 1 to 2 days." Hu was also described as very "hands-on" on Taiwan policy, and demanded quick reactions from government institutions.

Turning to China's invitations to Taiwan's opposition parties to visit the mainland, Wu described such visits as "terrible" as they "ignored the ruling government." The visits had also put the Taiwanese government in "a very difficult spot", and resulted in what he called "a weaker and more severely divided Taiwan."

As for the Memorandum of Understanding signed between China and the World Health Organization in 2005 in which the WHO must seek Beijing's approval for matters involving Taiwan, Wu noted that this was just one of many "vicious attempts by China to squeeze Taiwan out of its international space."

Such vicious attempts even extended to "harmless events" such as international firefighters conferences, medical seminars, and even the Miss Universe pageant. In the latter case, Taiwan's representative had to wear sashes displaying the words "Chinese Taipei", and one representative was said to have cried when told to do so. Probably a drama queen, anyway.

Wu contended that given the various manipulations from China, the 2002 declaration by President Chen Shui-bian (陈水扁) that there is one country on each side of the straits (一边一国) was actually provoked by Beijing.

Citing mainland Chinese journalists in Taiwan, Wu also added that Taiwan would lose its attractiveness to the Chinese - much like Hong Kong - if the island became a part of China.

As for Taiwan's dollar diplomacy - i.e., paying money to impoverished countries to recognize Taiwan diplomatically - Wu claimed that the contracts signed with countries in question had specific time frames and purposes, and were depended largely on the needs of the countries. This was supposedly in sharp contrast with China who issued grand promises as well as provided large amounts of money.

Finally, Wu noted that China had not - and hence should - differentiate between culture and politics. As example, Wu pointed out that even Chen Shui-bian himself had not denied his Fujian (福建) ancestry. And this is perhaps something that China should focus on.