Word: ma
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...Forging a New Identity Ma believes the time for change has come. Squished into his train seat, the Harvard-educated lawyer outlined to TIME a detailed program that he hopes will broaden Taiwan's relations with China and eventually lead to real peace. He talks of reaching a "comprehensive economic cooperation agreement" with China that would boost trade and investment across the strait. He even broaches the idea of negotiating a peace treaty with Beijing and putting in place "confidence-building measures" to scale back the military buildup on either side of the strait. "We can make cross-strait relations...
...Ma's attitude is a major turnaround from that of Taiwan's outgoing President, Chen Shui-bian of the rival Democratic Progressive Party, or DPP. In 2000 Chen made history by becoming the first non-KMT President of Taiwan. He won by tapping into and championing a rising spirit of Taiwanese nationalism. Many people in Taiwan no longer consider their island a part of China; instead, they see Taiwan as a de facto independent state and desire an identity of their own. The search for Taiwan identity also had a sharp anti-KMT edge. The KMT has historically been...
...Such sentiments are the reason Taiwan's March 22 presidential election is potentially one of the most important East Asia has seen in recent memory. A Ma victory could usher in a sea change in the tense relationship between China and Taiwan. In 1949 Mao Zedong's communists chased Chiang Kai-shek's KMT from the mainland after a brutal civil war, and ever since the two have glared icily at each other across the narrow but heavily armed strait that separates them. Beijing considers Taiwan to be no more than a wayward province destined to be reunified under communist...
...Ma's solution is simple: Don't rock the boat. His policy is enshrined in what are called the "three nos": no unilateral moves toward formal independence, no talks with the mainland on unification and no use of military force. The idea is to ditch the ideological hang-ups of the Chen years, stop irritating Beijing and pursue a new, pragmatic approach that focuses on improving relations with China wherever possible. "We have to find a way to manage the sovereignty issue without solving it," says Ma. "The idea is not that each side recognize each other...
...much more committed to defending Taiwan's de facto independence and Taiwan's democracy," says Hsiao Bi-khim, the international-affairs director for Hsieh's campaign. "We are not at all willing to compromise that for whatever economic gains that can be achieved with China." The DPP thus paints Ma's more accommodating policies as a route toward effective absorption. "We are worried that Ma's position would be pushing Taiwan into a scenario of de facto unification," says Hsiao. Ma, she believes, doesn't possess "the commitment or the ability" to stop that from happening...