Post by Sapphire Capital on Jul 28, 2008 4:05:18 GMT 4
JULY 25, 2008
Beijing and Taiwan Try their Hand at Détente
By Sandra Schulz
Beijing and Taipei are on a conciliatory path these days. The Communist Party in China has desisted with its military threats and the small island has stopped pushing as vociferously for independence. Direct flights have also been re-established between the mainland and Taiwan. Both sides seem to be experiencing change through rapprochement.
A Chinese plane lands in Taipei: "We will fulfill our long-held dream."
Fan Guishan's voice is booming. The sky above Taipei may be overcast, the Chinese man bellows, but his heart is full of sunshine. Fan sees no reason to keep his voice down right now. He's here leading an important delegation, and he wants to speak in great sentences on this great day. "We will fulfill our long-held dream," he cries to the others assembled in the ballroom. "Chinese tourists will come to Taiwan!" Everyone applauds.
Thirty-nine representatives of Chinese tour operators have gathered here in a Taipei luxury hotel. They're at the vanguard of the new business of Chinese tourism in Taiwan -- and they're here to see what the island has to offer. One highlight, for example, is "the best tea in the world," according to an official at the tourism office. Another is a jade cabbage from the Qing Dynasty housed at the Taipei National Palace Museum -- an entire vegetable carved from a single piece of white-green jade that is as famous as the Mona Lisa. And then there's Sun Moon Lake. Even as far back as the 1980's the lake was listed by the Chinese Communist Party's People's Daily newspaper as one of China's 10 most beautiful places -- even though it lies in Taiwan, the "renegade province," as Beijing officially calls this island.
FROM THE MAGAZINE
Find out how you can reprint this DER SPIEGEL article in your publication. Massive China and little Taiwan are beginning to bridge their differences again. On July 4, they reintroduced direct weekend flights from the mainland to the Taiwanese island, and a maximum of 3,000 Chinese visitors are allowed to enter Taiwan each day. Until this month, the only way for Chinese citizens to reach Taiwan was by first passing through Hong Kong, Macau or a third country. Now they can come directly to Taiwan and explore, draw some comparisons and tell friends and family back home what they've seen. They talk about the clean subways -- and about the political talk shows on TV. Chinese tourists, according to the Taiwanese tourism official, like to stay at their hotels in the evening and watch freedom of the press in action. "All that," he says, "is our gentle power."
A newly gentle era seems to be arriving in this part of the world with the Olympic Games, which begin in Beijing on August 8.
Though the Communist Party in Beijing is still standing firm on its "One China" policy, it has stopped provoking Taiwan with military maneuvers. Taiwan has also suspended its demonstrations for independence and seems satisfied with the status quo. China and Taiwan are both counting on their people, on winning their hearts and minds. Who knows, say the Taiwanese, perhaps people on the mainland will soon start wondering why the people of Taiwan are allowed to elect their government, while they are not?
"Beijing has realized that Taiwan will continue to drift away if China doesn't establish contact," says Lin Chong-pin, President of the Institute for International Studies. After nearly 60 years of separation, a generation has grown up in Taiwan seeing the People's Republic of China as a foreign country. Beijing now wants to draw the 23 million Taiwanese closer to the "motherland." The time is ripe, too: New Taiwanese President Ma Yingjeou got elected partly on a platform of wanting to improve relations with China, thus breaking with the policy course of his political predecessor. The main hope is that improved ties will translate into benefits for Taiwan's economy.
"The whole world wants to do business with China," says Tsai Eng-meng. "But Taiwan, though geographically closest to China, has been the only country to be shy about doing it. That's the big joke." Tsai himself, a successful Taiwanese entrepreneur, certainly couldn't be accused shyness. "If there's a mouth and some money to go with it, there's a market," he says. And with 1.3 billion mouths in China, Tsai has succeeded in making himself a very rich man -- complete with a private jet and a corporate headquarters in Shanghai. He's chairman of Want Want Group, a food brand that markets rice crackers and other snacks in China. Tsai has more than 40,000 employees, including 38,000 on the mainland. Almost all of his staff are Chinese.
Tsai opened his first factory on the mainland 16 years ago, and today he has 110. When he got started, he recalls, the Chinese welcomed Taiwanese investors with open arms.
The interconnections between Taiwan and China have only grown in the intervening years. Around 1 million Taiwanese business people now live on the mainland, and there are more than 250,000 marriages between Chinese and Taiwanese. Chinese women in Taiwan have never had it easy, though. In the past, these women were often suspected of being spies. Today people shout insults at women like Cui Yon-mei, such as: "You just want money."
Cui used to believe all Taiwanese were rich, since they were always so generous with the tips they gave out at Chinese hotels. But then she landed in Taipei and somehow the airport struck her as cheap, dimly lit and small -- hardly comparable to the glitzy new terminals in Beijing or Guangzhou.
Fighting for Loyalty
The wives, the businesspeople, they're all seeing to it that Taiwan gradually moves closer to China -- too close, some fear. Critics argue the new president is getting too chummy with the Chinese. In the past, Ma used the anniversary of the June 4, 1989, Tiananmen Square Massacre -- when several hundred protesters were killed by the military in Beijing -- as a time to direct accusations at the Communist leadership in Beijing. This year, though, he flattered and praised. China has made "certain progress," he says, thanks to the country's reforms. The Taiwanese opposition, however, argued it would have been better if Ma had reminded the Chinese about the unrest in Tibet.
And when the president agreed, out of respect, to let a negotiator from China call him simply "Mr. Ma," the Taiwanese political opposition immediately criticized him for smudging the nation's honor by allowing himself to be humbled in such a way.
AFP
Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou has been criticized by the political opposition for his flattery and praise for Beijing.
Taiwan's honor seems to be in constant danger as the island fights for "international space," the term used to refer to the island's international activities, like diplomatic ties with foreign countries. The size of this space is a matter determined by Beijing. Just 23 countries have diplomatic relations with Taiwan -- states like Tuvalu and the Vatican. This January, Malawi also decided to join Beijing's side, and before that Costa Rica, Chad and Senegal shifted allegiance. Memory of the $30 million lost in an attempt to win over Papua New Guinea -- a middleman ultimately ran off with the money -- still brings shame to the minds of the Taiwanese.
Taiwan has had the most success when it has been willing to be flexible about the name issue, making allowances for the "One China" policy. At the Olympic Games, Taiwan will compete as "Chinese Taipei," and within the World Trade Organization it is referred to as a "Separate Customs Territory." Those are the conditions under which Taiwan is allowed to participate.
An attraction that draws Taiwanese and Chinese both is the mausoleum of Chiang Kai-shek, Taiwan's national hero and a well-known figure in China as well. As the head of the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) in China, Chiang agreed to an alliance with Mao's troops to fight against Japan during World War II. After subsequently fighting and losing to the Communists, he and his government fled to Taiwan in 1949. Mao's Communist Party gained control of mainland China, but Chiang Kai-shek ruled as dictator in Taiwan.
The path to the coffin of the "great leader," as he is called in the brochures for the tourists, passes through bamboo stands and palm trees. It leads past a small green lake, which the general loved because it reminded him of his home in mainland China. Guards stand at attention in the muggy heat, right hands to their rifles and left hands balled into fists, under attack by mosquitoes.
One Country, Two Systems?
Initially, Taiwan's military was none too happy about the prospect of mainland visitors coming to the general's provisional resting place. They feared the Chinese might not show enough respect -- and that they might shuffle past the general's portrait in flipflops, or smoking cigarettes. But the Chinese visitors also bow to Chiang Kai-shek, just as a large sign nearby asks them to do. And when they come across the general's old soldiers, they're friendly and even exchange business cards.
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Yang Jun-chi used to come here often, when his eyes were better. He's 83 now, a veteran, a small man in sweatpants and an undershirt. "I have nothing in Taiwan," he says. He lives in a small room with his songbird and his Thai wife, for whom he paid a marriage broker €2,000 ($3,160). He left the cousin he loved behind on the mainland in 1949.
"Taiwan is a province of China," says Yang, and of course the politicians should be talking about reunification. It could be done the way it was in Hong Kong, where the "One Country, Two Systems" policy was established. Now in his twilight years, former soldier Yang, who once fought the Communists, has come to agree with the Communist Party.
In a couple months Yang will take one of the new direct flights to the mainland to attend a family celebration in his native village. While there, he'll also take a look at the urn he's ordered. Before he dies, Yang Jun-chi would like to finally leave Taiwan.
Beijing and Taiwan Try their Hand at Détente
By Sandra Schulz
Beijing and Taipei are on a conciliatory path these days. The Communist Party in China has desisted with its military threats and the small island has stopped pushing as vociferously for independence. Direct flights have also been re-established between the mainland and Taiwan. Both sides seem to be experiencing change through rapprochement.
A Chinese plane lands in Taipei: "We will fulfill our long-held dream."
Fan Guishan's voice is booming. The sky above Taipei may be overcast, the Chinese man bellows, but his heart is full of sunshine. Fan sees no reason to keep his voice down right now. He's here leading an important delegation, and he wants to speak in great sentences on this great day. "We will fulfill our long-held dream," he cries to the others assembled in the ballroom. "Chinese tourists will come to Taiwan!" Everyone applauds.
Thirty-nine representatives of Chinese tour operators have gathered here in a Taipei luxury hotel. They're at the vanguard of the new business of Chinese tourism in Taiwan -- and they're here to see what the island has to offer. One highlight, for example, is "the best tea in the world," according to an official at the tourism office. Another is a jade cabbage from the Qing Dynasty housed at the Taipei National Palace Museum -- an entire vegetable carved from a single piece of white-green jade that is as famous as the Mona Lisa. And then there's Sun Moon Lake. Even as far back as the 1980's the lake was listed by the Chinese Communist Party's People's Daily newspaper as one of China's 10 most beautiful places -- even though it lies in Taiwan, the "renegade province," as Beijing officially calls this island.
FROM THE MAGAZINE
Find out how you can reprint this DER SPIEGEL article in your publication. Massive China and little Taiwan are beginning to bridge their differences again. On July 4, they reintroduced direct weekend flights from the mainland to the Taiwanese island, and a maximum of 3,000 Chinese visitors are allowed to enter Taiwan each day. Until this month, the only way for Chinese citizens to reach Taiwan was by first passing through Hong Kong, Macau or a third country. Now they can come directly to Taiwan and explore, draw some comparisons and tell friends and family back home what they've seen. They talk about the clean subways -- and about the political talk shows on TV. Chinese tourists, according to the Taiwanese tourism official, like to stay at their hotels in the evening and watch freedom of the press in action. "All that," he says, "is our gentle power."
A newly gentle era seems to be arriving in this part of the world with the Olympic Games, which begin in Beijing on August 8.
Though the Communist Party in Beijing is still standing firm on its "One China" policy, it has stopped provoking Taiwan with military maneuvers. Taiwan has also suspended its demonstrations for independence and seems satisfied with the status quo. China and Taiwan are both counting on their people, on winning their hearts and minds. Who knows, say the Taiwanese, perhaps people on the mainland will soon start wondering why the people of Taiwan are allowed to elect their government, while they are not?
"Beijing has realized that Taiwan will continue to drift away if China doesn't establish contact," says Lin Chong-pin, President of the Institute for International Studies. After nearly 60 years of separation, a generation has grown up in Taiwan seeing the People's Republic of China as a foreign country. Beijing now wants to draw the 23 million Taiwanese closer to the "motherland." The time is ripe, too: New Taiwanese President Ma Yingjeou got elected partly on a platform of wanting to improve relations with China, thus breaking with the policy course of his political predecessor. The main hope is that improved ties will translate into benefits for Taiwan's economy.
"The whole world wants to do business with China," says Tsai Eng-meng. "But Taiwan, though geographically closest to China, has been the only country to be shy about doing it. That's the big joke." Tsai himself, a successful Taiwanese entrepreneur, certainly couldn't be accused shyness. "If there's a mouth and some money to go with it, there's a market," he says. And with 1.3 billion mouths in China, Tsai has succeeded in making himself a very rich man -- complete with a private jet and a corporate headquarters in Shanghai. He's chairman of Want Want Group, a food brand that markets rice crackers and other snacks in China. Tsai has more than 40,000 employees, including 38,000 on the mainland. Almost all of his staff are Chinese.
Tsai opened his first factory on the mainland 16 years ago, and today he has 110. When he got started, he recalls, the Chinese welcomed Taiwanese investors with open arms.
The interconnections between Taiwan and China have only grown in the intervening years. Around 1 million Taiwanese business people now live on the mainland, and there are more than 250,000 marriages between Chinese and Taiwanese. Chinese women in Taiwan have never had it easy, though. In the past, these women were often suspected of being spies. Today people shout insults at women like Cui Yon-mei, such as: "You just want money."
Cui used to believe all Taiwanese were rich, since they were always so generous with the tips they gave out at Chinese hotels. But then she landed in Taipei and somehow the airport struck her as cheap, dimly lit and small -- hardly comparable to the glitzy new terminals in Beijing or Guangzhou.
Fighting for Loyalty
The wives, the businesspeople, they're all seeing to it that Taiwan gradually moves closer to China -- too close, some fear. Critics argue the new president is getting too chummy with the Chinese. In the past, Ma used the anniversary of the June 4, 1989, Tiananmen Square Massacre -- when several hundred protesters were killed by the military in Beijing -- as a time to direct accusations at the Communist leadership in Beijing. This year, though, he flattered and praised. China has made "certain progress," he says, thanks to the country's reforms. The Taiwanese opposition, however, argued it would have been better if Ma had reminded the Chinese about the unrest in Tibet.
And when the president agreed, out of respect, to let a negotiator from China call him simply "Mr. Ma," the Taiwanese political opposition immediately criticized him for smudging the nation's honor by allowing himself to be humbled in such a way.
AFP
Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou has been criticized by the political opposition for his flattery and praise for Beijing.
Taiwan's honor seems to be in constant danger as the island fights for "international space," the term used to refer to the island's international activities, like diplomatic ties with foreign countries. The size of this space is a matter determined by Beijing. Just 23 countries have diplomatic relations with Taiwan -- states like Tuvalu and the Vatican. This January, Malawi also decided to join Beijing's side, and before that Costa Rica, Chad and Senegal shifted allegiance. Memory of the $30 million lost in an attempt to win over Papua New Guinea -- a middleman ultimately ran off with the money -- still brings shame to the minds of the Taiwanese.
Taiwan has had the most success when it has been willing to be flexible about the name issue, making allowances for the "One China" policy. At the Olympic Games, Taiwan will compete as "Chinese Taipei," and within the World Trade Organization it is referred to as a "Separate Customs Territory." Those are the conditions under which Taiwan is allowed to participate.
An attraction that draws Taiwanese and Chinese both is the mausoleum of Chiang Kai-shek, Taiwan's national hero and a well-known figure in China as well. As the head of the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) in China, Chiang agreed to an alliance with Mao's troops to fight against Japan during World War II. After subsequently fighting and losing to the Communists, he and his government fled to Taiwan in 1949. Mao's Communist Party gained control of mainland China, but Chiang Kai-shek ruled as dictator in Taiwan.
The path to the coffin of the "great leader," as he is called in the brochures for the tourists, passes through bamboo stands and palm trees. It leads past a small green lake, which the general loved because it reminded him of his home in mainland China. Guards stand at attention in the muggy heat, right hands to their rifles and left hands balled into fists, under attack by mosquitoes.
One Country, Two Systems?
Initially, Taiwan's military was none too happy about the prospect of mainland visitors coming to the general's provisional resting place. They feared the Chinese might not show enough respect -- and that they might shuffle past the general's portrait in flipflops, or smoking cigarettes. But the Chinese visitors also bow to Chiang Kai-shek, just as a large sign nearby asks them to do. And when they come across the general's old soldiers, they're friendly and even exchange business cards.
NEWSLETTER
Sign up for Spiegel Online's daily newsletter and get the best of Der Spiegel's and Spiegel Online's international coverage in your In- Box everyday.
Yang Jun-chi used to come here often, when his eyes were better. He's 83 now, a veteran, a small man in sweatpants and an undershirt. "I have nothing in Taiwan," he says. He lives in a small room with his songbird and his Thai wife, for whom he paid a marriage broker €2,000 ($3,160). He left the cousin he loved behind on the mainland in 1949.
"Taiwan is a province of China," says Yang, and of course the politicians should be talking about reunification. It could be done the way it was in Hong Kong, where the "One Country, Two Systems" policy was established. Now in his twilight years, former soldier Yang, who once fought the Communists, has come to agree with the Communist Party.
In a couple months Yang will take one of the new direct flights to the mainland to attend a family celebration in his native village. While there, he'll also take a look at the urn he's ordered. Before he dies, Yang Jun-chi would like to finally leave Taiwan.