I've been meaning to post on the recently completed Taiwan Presidential elections. As was expected, Ma Ying-Jiu (馬英九) won easily. Thankfully, with all the hubub leading up to the election, nothing serious happened in the way of violence or wackiness (the '04 elections had its share of incumbents being shot, violent rallies, etc.).
Historically, this election will end up being a huge deal for Taiwan. Ma represents a drastic change from the current administration as far as its policy on China goes. Ma is not as hell-bent on declaring independence as the outgoing President Chen Shui-Bian. Ma will push a more patient, communicative plan to improve its relationship with the Mainland.
As luck would have it, Nicole, Rainny and I took a jaunt up to Taipei to do some paperwork for Rainny's passport a few days ago (we're getting ready for a trip back to the US). We arrived at the office of foreign affairs and saw a TON of media folks crowded around. After one of the secret-service dudes told me the President-elect himself would be walking out shortly, I stuck around to catch a glimpse. Because I was holding the littl'n, some nice Ma supporters pushed me to the front of the crowd just in time to see him and his entourage come out. I stuck my hand out for him to shake it, but he just kind of grazed it in a faux low-five type of thing. He did give us a nice hello, though. Nicole was quick with the camera, which must have been hard for her since there were a lot of real cameramen pushing and shoving to get a good shot. You can see the video below.
Ma is highly regarded as one of the most charming and brilliant leaders in not only Asia, but in the world as a whole. He is especially popular with the ladies, as was evident by the fact that just about all of the people crowded around to see him were female. Needless to say, he had no trouble winning the female vote this past March. As a Harvard Law grad who speaks flawless English, Ma is not the norm in Aisan politics. He is a forward thinker who isn't afraid to criticize the big country across the strait, while at the same time recognizing their economic prowess and the need to communicate. As part of his campaign, he spent weeks riding his bike around the island and spent many nights in regular citizens' homes (with plenty of security by his side, of course) in an effort to get in touch with the people. Now there's a novel political idea. The morning after the election, after Ma had been announced as the next President of a country of 25 million people, his wife got on a bus and went to her job at a bank, something that she had done every morning for years. Kind of a comforting change from what politics has become nowadays.
On an important side note, Ma's running mate, Xiao Wan-Chang, is a Chinese spitting image of Al Franken.
The vast majority of westerners living in Taiwan are opposed to Ma and his policy on China. In light of problems going on in Tibet, it's easy to throw Taiwan in the same boat and say that Ma's friendliness toward China is going to lead to an eventual merger. That might very well be the case, but the current administration's shouting independence from the rooftops would most definitely take Taiwan down that same road, perhaps with a less than peaceful outcome. The situation with China is definitely a complicated one. Many around the world are quick to protest and complain and try to grab the Olympic Torch, but for every one of those people there are a gazillion others who want to be able to run down to the Wal-Mart and get cheap goods. The world can't have it both ways without good, solid communication. Make no mistake, Taiwan is not Tibet. The people of Taiwan are not subject to any of the despicable restrictions or censorship that China has imposed on many of its people. Let's hope it stays that way.
4 comments:
that's some pretty cool stuff! how's everything coming with the trip over? i hope you guys don't have to deal with flight cancellations. there has been a lot of that lately. see you soon!
I heard some craziness about people wanting to boycott the 2008 olympics--I never figured out if it was because of the China/Taiwan relations or what. I think it's silly, because the olympics are for the athletes first of all. Anyway. Does Taiwan still consider themselves R.O.C.?
Heather,
The protests and possible boycotting of the olympics have little to do with Taiwan, and a lot to do with China's human rights record (especially regarding its handling of Tibet). I think it's silly in some cases, but it's clear that Tibet needs help.
I think you're right, the olympics are for athletes, and should not be politicised. On the other hand, it's probably the only card the western world can play where there would be some amount of leverage to hit China where it hurts. China has a major sensitivity issue when it comes to being humiliated on a global stage. But with all of the corporate investment in something like the olympics, you probably won't see a major boycott happen. Money talks.
Now that Ma has been elected, it will be back to "Taiwan, R.O.C." as the official name. The current president Chen, who has been in office for the past 8 years, made a huge effort to change the name to "Taiwan". Initially, it sounded like a valiant endeavor, until it was realized that very few entities outside of Taiwan recognized the name change, not to mention it pissed China off even more than they already were. I think of it as a non-issue. The teams at the olympics will wear 'Chinese Taipei' on everything, complicating the whole name thing even further. For simplicity, I'm going to refer to this country as 'Taiwan'...
That's kind of silly. Didn't R.O.C. have something to do with Taiwan considering themselves the capital of China back in the day? I don't see why they would want to remove that part. Also, wasn't there something about going to "Formosa" instead?
It's ironic that in the end, China uses its manpower to attack the world through economics, instead of simple fist-to-fist battle. And it's killing us. Very clever.
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