Taiwan's Ma treads carefully in forging China ties

When it comes to China, many Taiwanese draw a line in the sand.
They welcome President Ma Ying-jeou's efforts to build closer economic ties with the mainland since taking office 18 months ago. But most remain steadfast against China's goal of bringing the island of 23 million people back under its control, 60 years after the two split amid civil war.
So while Taiwan and China are growing closer economically, that doesn't mean they are going to grow any closer politically, at least in the next few years. With voters strongly opposed to trusting the island's hard-won democracy to Beijing's communists, Ma is certainly unlikely to push in that direction ahead of his probable re-election bid in 2012.
The 59-year-old president signaled as much earlier this summer, when opposition politicians attempted to embarrass him after a botched government response to a devastating typhoon.
The opposition invited the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan religious leader at odds with China, to comfort typhoon survivors. Refusing him an entry visa would have pleased Beijing but opened Ma to more criticism at home. Risking Beijing's ire, he allowed the Dalai Lama to come.
China, while making pro-forma protests, showed great understanding of that decision. It sees Ma as vastly preferable to his predecessor, Chen Shui-ban, who favored seeking formal independence _ a stance that prompted Beijing to dust off long-standing threats to attack across the 100-mile- (160-kilometer-) wide Taiwan Strait.
The United States, which fears being drawn into any China-Taiwan conflict, welcomes Ma's approach. Though Washington shifted recognition from Taipei to Beijing as the legitimate Chinese government in 1979, it still supports Taiwan's vibrant democracy.
Taiwan expert Shelley Rigger of North Carolina's Davidson College says Ma's measured approach has won the approval of broad sections of the Taiwanese population _ even some who didn't vote for him.
"You might say he is channeling the Taiwanese voters' desire to 'have it all' _ good relations with China and de facto independence, too!" she wrote in an e-mail response to questions.
On the commercial side Ma has sanctioned the first regular cross-strait flights in 60 years, liberalized bilateral investment rules, opened Taiwan to significantly increased numbers of Chinese tourists and paved the way for the signing of a far reaching trade pact between the sides.
But politically, he has made only vague calls for a China-Taiwan peace treaty and leavened them with pointed criticisms of the mainland's military stance, including the deployment of some 1,500 missiles aimed at Taiwan. He has also pushed for purchases of sophisticated armaments from the United States, making it clear he will do what it takes to defend against a possible Chinese invasion.
Still, Rigger says, "he needs to pay attention to rising doubts about the pace of cross-Strait dealmaking."
Rigger's comment reflects the profound doubts that many Taiwanese have about China's communist system. Opinion polls consistently point to majorities of 70 percent or higher opposed to unification. While the surveys don't break down the reasons, conversations with ordinary Taiwanese suggest they are tied to a dislike of China's one-party dictatorship, its wide rich-poor gap and its seeming disregard for many aspects of traditional Chinese culture.
Opinions vary among different groups on Taiwan. "Mainlanders" _ families of people who arrived in Taiwan in 1949 after Mao Zedong's communists defeated Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists in the Chinese civil war _ are generally seen as more sympathetic to China than "native-born Taiwanese," whose connections to the country have diminished in the 250-350 years since their ancestors came to the island from China's Fujian province.
The divisions are not absolute.
Mainlander Icka Yin, a 37-year-old Taipei housewife, says she once supported unity with China but changed her mind after a six-month stint working for a Beijing bank in 2004.
Yin, who counts herself a strong supporter of Ma's Nationalist Party, says she was particularly put off by the condescending attitude of officials and bureaucrats toward ordinary Chinese and the propaganda-laden quality of state-run media _ both of which play poorly in freewheeling Taiwan.
"I have come to question (unity) because there is simply too huge a cultural gap between the two sides," she says.
Ann Chen, the mainlander manager of a Taiwanese public relations firm in Shanghai, supports the economic element of Ma's China policy but doesn't want it extended into politics.
"The best thing for Taiwan and China now is to discuss economic development only and avoid any talks about sensitive political issues," she said.
Ma himself appears to understand that, making it clear that at least for the time being political dealmaking is not on his agenda.
"Our hands are actually full with economic issues," he told The Associated Press last month. "Those are more urgent and are of more concern for the welfare of our people."
Associated Press writer Foster Klug contributed to this report.