Eager to present Beijing with a rosy picture of the situation back home, the KMT appears to have discredited itself in the eyes of its Chinese interlocutors, perhaps creating an opportunity for the DPP to be taken more seriously
Rumor even has it that the DPP recently allowed Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials to enter its sacred ground — party headquarters in Taipei.
This occurs at a time when Chinese officials have allegedly complained to a pan-blue newspaper that information they have received from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) painted such an incomplete picture of the mood in Taiwan that it prompted Zhongnanhai to look elsewhere.
Should this be true, Taiwan and China could be on the brink of taking their real first steps toward mutual understanding, or at least toward clearing the ideological air that has poisoned Chinese perceptions of Taiwan for so long. If the noise coming out of Beijing is true and the CCP is indeed realizing that its KMT interlocutors have not been straight with it on the Taiwanese polity’s reaction to President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) detente, this could signify that Beijing is becoming more attuned to the multiplicity of voices that characterizes Taiwanese society.
My unsigned editorial, published today in the Taipei Times, continues here.
"Chinese officials have allegedly complained to a pan-blue newspaper that information they have received from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) painted such an incomplete picture of the mood in Taiwan that it prompted Zhongnanhai to look elsewhere."
ReplyDeleteMy speculation is that this is Beijing's tactics to use "we will turn to the DPP if you don't behave" to threaten Ma Ying-jeou into even speedier tilt toward the goal of unification.
Applying that tactics on someone else might backfire, but it would most probably work on Ma.
Besides, the result of recent 5-city election shows that the probability of Ma losing 2012 is not that far-fetched. Anyone replacing Ma will be a much tougher opponent for Beijing to deal with.
That means, Beijing doesn't have much time. They have less than 2 years to squeeze Ma's ball. After then everything is too unpredictable and they might have to give a lot to gain little.
So, among the 3: Beijing, the DPP, the KMT, I would say that Beijing is the one most eager to build the DPP-Beijing bridge --- or, at least, "apparently" do so.