From The Taipei Times (link): `Ma — with his fluent command of English and wealth of knowledge — would be a good promoter of Taiwan, giving voice to the wishes of the Taiwanese. Unfortunately, Ma’s love for China outweighs his feelings for Taiwan.’
While visiting the US, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has expressed his opinions on cross-strait policy, and his views deserve public attention and discussion.
First, Ma said that from the perspective of international law, the Republic of China (ROC) is an independent, sovereign state and has been so since its founding in 1912. The name of this state is, however, the ROC, not Taiwan. He unambiguously said that the “one China” is the ROC, and that since the ROC is already independent, it is unnecessary to declare independence a second time.
Second, Ma proposed the so-called “Five Do’s” (‰∫î˶Å) during his speech, “A vision for peace and prosperity,” at Harvard University. These “Five Do’s” are: Resume cross-strait dialogue based on the “1992 consensus,” sign a peace agreement and build a mechanism for mutual military trust, establish a joint market across the Taiwan Strait, increase Taiwan’s participation in the international community and strengthen cultural and educational exchanges.
While these ideas have not yet been expanded into a complete discourse, they can be seen as the guidelines for Ma’s presidential election platform in 2008 and offer a glimpse into the basic framework of his national identification and cross-strait policies.
