Two China's Battle of Nerves

Two China's Battle of Nerves

By Erick San Juan

This is a follow up of the last article I wrote on the visit of the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama to Taiwan that caused so much fuss both in Taiwan and in Beijing. A lot has been said that the visit was for religious and humanitarian reasons, actually based on some recent analysis it was more of a political move that resulted to the temporary suspension of cross-strait exchanges by Beijing after the visit.

The August 26 visit of Dalai Lama brought a lot of negative reactions towards the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), saying that President Ma Ying-jeou was victimized by DPP in allowing the spiritual leader Dalai Lama in coming to Taiwan in the middle of the cross-strait exchanges. Even to the point of describing “the move of the DPP as a “political version of Pearl Harbor,” and that the KMT criticized the DPP for pulling a “political stunt.” The DPP argued that the visit wasn’t political.” (Published on Taipei Times 09/09/09 )

I would also like to share the analysis of political science professor Lo Chih-cheng of Soochow University – “the price Ma had to pay was China’s loss of trust in his leadership and credibility, he said. Beijing now realizes it cannot rely solely on Ma to court the Taiwanese public, but must bank on “other agents” as well.”

“Ma also invited criticism when he and other top government officials shunned the Dalai Lama during the visit, creating the image that Ma was a “puppet” manipulated by Beijing,” Lo said.

Taiwan’s President is now in a hot spot and had to work hard to win back Beijing’s trust and at the same time to keep the public from speculating that he is not working for Taiwan’s advantage. While Beijing had to stand with its efforts to unite with Taiwan and continue the cross-straits talks especially with the economic and financial agreements.

The Mainland China's unannounced military exercises using live ammunitions with manpower coming from their four major service commands plus the statement of Taiwan's President Ma during the visit of the European parliaments defying the one China policy which was reported by the Asia Times two weeks ago could be the reason why the 7th fleet had their presence felt in the Philippines? Just asking!