Want China Times
Editorial
Date: 2015-07-16

Since 1949, cross-strait relations have fluctuated between unification and independence,

Hung Hsiu-chu. (File photo/Yao Chih-ping)

between fighting, easing and peace. Before 1990, it was fighting. In early 1990s, relations improved, forming a “fragile stability.” But since 1994, when former president Lee Teng-hui published The Sorrow of Being Born Taiwanese, the idea of separation and the transformation of “one China” into a concept of history, geography, culture and consanguinity, and no longer the Republic of China. Since then, the cross-strait relations have developed into the fighting stage from the “fragile stability.”

Since president Ma Ying-jeou took office in 2008, his “1992 Consensus” and “one China, different interpretations” has formed the core of his cross-strait policy and has helped open the door to the healthy development of cross-strait relations into “fragile stability.” In 2011, Ma even tried to push for peace, proposing a cross-strait peace agreement. The agreement met with strong opposition from Taiwan’s citizens, which dragged down Ma’s approval ratings and forced Ma to withdraw his advocacy. He returned to easing into relations.

The easing strategy, however, has not prevented relations from entering the deep end. Especially since the March 18 Sunflower Student Movement last year, the Cross-strait Service Trade Agreement has been blocked, and there are uncertainties over the approval of the Cross-Strait Goods Trade Agreement and the setting up of representative offices on each other’s soil. It is not Taiwan’s internal struggle that has blocked the signing of the cross-strait agreement, but there have been complaints from China’s public, making it difficult to maintain the “fragile stability” of the past seven years.     [FULL  STORY]