How will the China-Taiwan question be resolved? Will the Hong Kong/Macau model become attractive to the people of Taiwan? Will China become so economically similar to Taiwan that few differences remain? Will a new a younger generation find a new model and new solutions? Will China and Taiwan move so close that they are “de facto” once country? What do you think? Please post your comments below.
Photo: hji via flickr
(Photo: Office of the President, Republic of China, Taiwan)
by David Parmer
On July 20, 2013, Taiwan’s president, Ma Ying-jeou was re-elected as president of Taiwan’s ruling KMT (GuoMinDang) party. Ma ran un-opposed, but the heavy voter turnout was taken by some as a sign of approval for the job he is doing in his second term as president. Elected in 2008 and re-elected in 2012, Ma has had a steady and ever-advancing rise to power.
Some highlights:
President Ma is known, and will probably be remembered for his pragmatic handling of relations with the Beijing government. While standing his ground on areas where there are basic differences, he has taken a long-term and pragmatic approach toward relations with the mainland.
Since 2003 the mainland has been Taiwan’s chief trading partner. Bloomberg reported that Chinese tourists spent an estimated $9.8 billion from 2009 to the present. Direct flights which eliminated the necessity of circuitous routes required in the past have certainly positively impacted cross-strait relations and trade.
In a Foreign Press Center briefing on July 22, 2013 in Washington, U.S Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific Daniel Russel observed:
“…we respect and admire the progress that has been made in cross-straight relations under President Ma Ying-jeou’s tenure. We think that the dialog that he has fostered provides benefits to people on both sides of the strait as well as to the region and others in terms of promoting stability and promoting prosperity.”
When President Ma was re-elected to the KMT presidency last week, he was congratulated by Xi Jin Ping in his capacity as head of the Communist Party of China and not as her President. And this underlies the problem, for a meeting to take place between the two leaders, President Ma would have to be recognized as a head of state, and officially Beijing sees Taiwan not as a state, but as a breakaway province. Diplomats have artfully resolved more thorny issues than this with subtle artifice and carefully-worded statements, so maybe before his term is over in 2016, Ma Ying-jeou might meet the president of the PRC in Beijing.
Whatever the outcome, he will surely be remembered as the KMT leader who did the most in 60 years to bring Chinese on both sides of the strait closer together.
Border disputes on land and sea are common in almost all quarters of the globe. Countries large and small lay claims to territories that their neighbors also call their own. In an increasingly-complex and interdependent world, how do you think such disputes should be decided? Should the parties involved try to sort it out themselves, or should all such disputes be referred to a world body such as the International Court of Justice? Can such territorial disputes ever be settled, or will history be the ultimate arbiter? Please post your comments below.
(19 July 2013) The Hindustan Times reports that the Indian Army plans to create a 45,000-man mountain strike force along it northeast border. The strike force, to be based in West Bengal will take seven years to stand up. It will have the capability to mount incursions into the Tibet Autonomous Region. The Times says the force will be equipped with ultra-light howitzers, artillery pieces, unmanned aerial vehicles, radars and specialized mountain equipment.
The news comes after a three-week standoff in April this year in which a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) platoon-sized unit occupied disputed territory in the Ladakh region. The standoff was settled peacefully with both sides withdrawing, but clearly showed China’s advantage in the region, particularly in the area of infrastructure allowing rapid troop deployment.
Earlier this month, India’s Defense Minister, Mr. A.K. Antony paid a visit to China from July 4-7 at the invitation of China’s Defense Minister, Gen. Chang Wanquan. A joint statement issued by both parties to the meeting stressed the need for cooperation and the exchange of military personnel.
Meetings between the DPRK and ROK this month concerning re-opening the Kaesong economic complex ended without agreement. The Kaesong complex, 10km inside North Korea hosts 120 South Korean companies and employs 53,000 North Korean workers. Operations were suspended in April 2013 when cross-border tensions rose to a new high. In this latest round of meetings the only agreement was to hold further talks. So what will happen? Will Kaesong re-open any time soon? How does Kaesong figure in to the DPRK’s overall strategy? If this situation were seen from the perspective of a game of chess or Wei Qi (Igo), what would the next moves be? Post your thoughts here.
(Photo: U.S. Dept. of State)
The fifth round of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialog (S&ED) concluded this week in Washington D.C. The meeting which, has been held annually since 2009, ran from July 10-11. This year’s get-together could be seen as a follow-up to the Obama-Xi summit held last month in California.
The S&ED has a two-tract structure. This year the Economic Track was co-chaired by China’s Vice Premier Wang Yang, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew. The Strategic Track was co-chaired by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi.
A wide range of issues were discussed including:
The People’s Daily (China) reported on July 12 that Chinese concerns included access for Chinese investors to the U.S. market and less restrictions on hi-tech exports to China. Progress was also reported being made toward the formation of a Bi-Lateral Investment Treaty, (BIT) that would see greater U.S. access to the China market.
Visits this year by Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Barack Obama have focused attention on African development for the 21st century. Will Africa be transformed by the end of this century, or are its problems so complex that a longer time will be required? What do you think? Please post your thoughts below.
(White House Photo: Chuck Kennedy)
Tanzania was U.S. President Barak Obama’s last stop on his three-nation African stops which also took him to Senegal and South Africa.
During his visit, he met with Tanzanian president Jakaya Kikwete, addressed business leaders at the Corporate Council on Africa, gave a press conference with President Kikwte, and joined former U.S. President George W. Bush in a low-key ceremony in which they lay a wreath in commemoration of those who lost their lives in the 1998 Al Qaeda bombing of the U.S. embassy in Dar es Salaam .
Some media reports suggested that the meaning of the trip was that the U.S. was playing “catch up,” i.e., trying to make up for lost time. On the surface this appeared to be true. In March this year, newly-elected Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Tanzania as his second overseas trip as president. The Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that the purpose of Xi’s visit was to consolidate traditional friendship, chart the course for future cooperation and promote common development. Since 2009, China has been Tanzania’s largest trading partner and second largest source of investment. As for traditional friendship China-Tanzania ties date all the way back to 1955 at the Bandung Conference in Indonesia where China was represented by then Premier Zhou Enlai. (And Zhou visited Tanzania a year after the country became Independent.) Moreover, China has been instrumental over the years in building infrastructure in Tanzania and during Xi’s trip in March 2013, offered loans amounting to USD$20 billion for development, mainly in the area of power generation.
Just three months later, in July 2013, President Obama arrived in Tanzania with a battalion of business executives and with trade as a key issue. At a joint press conference with the Tanzanian president, he gave a nod to America’s own long-standing relations with the country by noting the 50th anniversary of the visit of the founder of Tanzania, Julius Nyerere to the Kennedy White House, and acknowledging Tanzania as being one of the first countries to welcome the U.S. Peace Corps.
In a generally under-reported speech to The Corporate Council on Africa on July 1, 2013, Obama outlined a bold and far-reaching plan, not just for Tanzania, but for the region itself. In what might have been described as a toned-down campaign speech, he outlined a vision for Africa that focused on the transition from a relationship of aid to one of trade. During the speech he announced several proposals including a program to aid intra-African trade, the expansion of the Young African Leaders Program, and a previously-introduced Power Africa Plan to bring electricity to the southern part of the continent. He also zeroed-in on the concerns of the business community, particularly red-tape that hampers business and investment, and long time- frames for urgently-needed projects. He promised a whole new approach to relations, one that would empower Africa’s rising middle class. The speech was pure Barack Obama, featuring a mastery of detail, humor, and an inspiring vision for the future that was easy to buy in to.
When he ran for election in his first term in 2008, his critics made light of Obama’s experience as a “community organizer,” but on July 1, 2013, this experience seemed to serve him well. It was as if he was there to organize a continent-size community.
Park Geun-hey, president of the Republic of Korea is visiting China from June 27-30, 2013. After meetings with China’s president, Xi Jinping, President Park with travel with 71 Korean business leaders to Xian in northwest China. Early reports of the Xi-Park meeting suggest agreement on many points as well as the possible establishment of a two-nation free trade zone. The question is what will be the long term effect of these meetings? Will China mitigate its support of its long-time ally in the north in favor of a more-balanced approach to both Koreas? Or are the Xi-Park talks designed to move the DPKR back to the negotiating table at a new round of six-party talks? Will there be real substantive change on the Korean peninsula thanks to President Park Geun-hey’s trip, or simply business as usual? Post your thoughts here.
Soon after her inauguration on February 25, 2013, newly-elected Korean President Park Geun-hey had to face a tough crisis in dealing with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Rising tensions on the Korean peninsula were focused on the DPRK’s nuclear and missile programs. Analysists suggested that after some initial mis-steps in her administration, Park rose to the challenge of her new office and successfully dealt with the heightened tensions and threats of war.
According to her website, the goal of the Park administration’s domestic agenda is to “open a new era of hope and happiness for all people.” She has also tasked her government with dealing with four “major evils” :
Park, 61, is the daughter of Korean president Park Chung-hee, who held the office from 1963 until his assassination in 1979. She graduated in 1974 with a degree in electronic engineering from Sogang University. After her mother’s death she acted as First Lady and assisted her father with his presidential duties.
Along the way to the presidency, Park Geun-hey received several honorary doctorates, including an honorary doctorate in literature from the Chinese Culture University in Taipei, Taiwan. Park, the author of several books, is also said to be fluent in Mandarin Chinese. Park’s political career began in 1998. She served four terms in the Korea National Assembly from 1998-2012. She was chair of the Grand National Party from 2004-2006. In 2012 she was elected president.
Republic of Korea Presidential website: http://english.president.go.kr/main.php
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