Denigrating Direct Links while Celebrating Three Mini-links: Tsai Ing-wen's Fundamental Contradiction

Denigrating Direct Links while Celebrating Three Mini-links: Tsai Ing-wen's Fundamental Contradiction
China Times editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
December 30, 2011

Summary: The two sides have now achieved comprehensive peace. They look forward to more win/win exchanges in the future. Even a minor setback could lead to significant losses. Tsai Ing-wen is attempting to overcome her biggest Achilles Heel during the last moments of her campaign. She is desperately attempting to prove that cross-Strait relations will remain peaceful even if she is elected. Ironically, her attempts to bind the Three Mini-links hand and foot failed. They could not prevent vitally important cross-strait exchanges.

Full Text Below:

History often surprises us, DPP leaders assumed the TaiMed corruption scandal was water under the bridge. Yet it became an albatross around their presidential candidate's neck. By contrast, when legislators from Kinmen and Matsu energetically promoted the Three Mini-links, the DPP want along reluctantly. Today however, Tsai Ing-wen is trumpeting it as one of her vanishingly few cross-Strait achievements. The DPP is now singing praises to the Three Mini-links. The DPP has consciously blanked out its former vilification of Direct Links. But the voters have not. From beginning to end, the DPP has flip-flopped on cross-Strait policy. It has been unable to unburden itself of its ideological baggage.

Twenty days before the election, Tsai Ing-wen made a special trip to Kinmen and issued a proclamation. She boasted that when she was Chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council, she overcame countless obstacles promoting the Three Mini-links. She lamented how she had to endure sexual innuendos such as "xiao san tong, tong xiao san." The reality is Blue Camp legislators from Kinmen and Matsu had to fight DPP legislators tooth and nail to pass the Three Mini-links. Now the DPP is actually trying to steal credit for their achievement. They cannot be happy about that.

Promoting the Three Mini-links required the "Offshore Development Regulations" as a legal basis. In March 2000, just before the DPP assumed power, legislators from Kinmen and Matsu joined forces and passed the Three Mini-links. The DPP regime may have promoted the Three Mini-links after it came to power, but only after binding it hand and foot. People from Taiwan could only invest in Mainland China with prior approval. Only veterans from Fujian could qualify for travel to and from the Mainland Region. Only in June 2008, after the Ma administration took office, did the program include both the Three Mini-links and "Three Mega-links" (i.e., Direct Links). Only then were the restrictions removed. Only then was everyone from the Taiwan Region permitted to travel to and from the Mainland Region. Only then could expanded cross-Strait exchanges take place.

The only reason the DPP was willing to promote the Three Mini-links, was that it was unwilling to promote cross-Strait Direct Flights. Under pressure from public opinion, it grudgingly consented to the Three Mini-links as an alternative. Some observers noted that the DPP was using the Three Mini-links to block Direct Links. Tsai Ing-wen now boasts that she championed the Three Mini-links. But when the DPP was in power, it imposed severe limitations on them. The DPP's underlying motive was to minimize contacts between people on the two sides, not to maximize their convenience.

This is how the DPP dealt with the Three Mini-links. Needless to say, the DPP's attitude toward Direct Links was far more hostile. During the 2008 presidential election, the DPP openly denounced cross-Strait Direct Flights, blaming them for hollowing out Taiwan's industry. According to WikiLeaks, on December 17, 2008, after the Ma administration officially inaugurated Direct Links, Tsai Ing-wen complained to the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). She said "Direct Links will harm businesses and consumers on Taiwan. The huge influx of [Mainland] Chinese goods may cause many businesses on Taiwan to fail."

Now, three years after Direct Links were inaugurated, Tsai Ing-wen's predictions have been proven totally wrong. Businesses have not closed down as a result of Direct Links. Consumers have not been harmed by Mainland Chinese consumer goods. Just the opposite. Cross-strait Direct Flights have have saved people an inestimable amount of time and energy. They have reduced the cost of doing business. They have become an essential right.

Only in April of this year did Tsai Ing-wen belatedly repudiate her previously held opposition. Only then, during the DPP's presidential primary debate, did she proclaim that if the Democratic Progressive Party returned to power in 2008, it would continue to allow Direct Flights and continue to allow Mainland tourists to visit Taiwan. The DPP violently opposed Direct Flights. Yet today Tsai Ing-wen is attempting to steal credit for them. In effect, she is rewriting the history of how Direct Flights came into existence.

How does Tsai Ing-wen compare to other DPP leaders? Frankly Tsai Ing-wen is so conservative in her outlook, she reeks of Cold War era "no contact, no negotiations, no compromise" sentiment. During her recent Kinmen proclamation, she went through the motions. She replicated Chen Shui-bian's "bold remarks" in Kinmen of 2002. But compare the substance. Chen Shui-bian actually proposed cross-Strait exchanges. He invited then Beijing leader Jiang Zemin to tea. Tsai Ing-wen by contrast, reluctantly agreed to severely hobbled Three Mini-links. Chen Shui-bian was actually more open-minded than Tsai Ing-wen.

Chen Shui-bian set forth his "Five Noes" and made his "bold remarks." He actually intended to promote cross-Strait reconciliation and a new cross-Strait scenario, But he was hijacked by Taiwan independence fundamentalists. He was unable to deliver. Tsai Ing-wen's cross-Strait policies are actually more rigid than Chen's. When she was chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council, she prevented Chen Shui-bian from recognizing the 1992 Consensus. When she became DPP chairman, she expelled DPP members who took part in exchanges between the KMT and the CCP. In 2009, she launched a public referendum opposing ECFA. She alleged that ECFA would force Taiwan to pay a painful economic and political price.

This is the real Tsai Ing-wen, a person sure to frighten away moderate and rational voters. Even Washington is concerned that if Tsai Ing-wen takes office, cross-Strait relations will become tense. This is why Tsai Ing-wen has been repeatedly fine-tuning her campaign message. For example, she has vowed to honor ECFA, even as she repudiates the 1992 Consensus. This is why during her trip to Kinmen the day before yesterday, she tried to pad her cross-Strait policy resume. She is desperate to prove that if she is elected, cross-Strait relations will not disintegrate.

The two sides have now achieved comprehensive peace. They look forward to more win/win exchanges in the future. Even a minor setback could lead to significant losses. Tsai Ing-wen is attempting to overcome her biggest Achilles Heel during the last moments of her campaign. She is desperately attempting to prove that cross-Strait relations will remain peaceful even if she is elected. Ironically, her attempts to bind the Three Mini-links hand and foot failed. They could not prevent vitally important cross-strait exchanges.

詆毀大三通 頌揚小三通 根本矛盾

2011-12-30中國時報

歷史的進展常常出人意料，當年讓民進黨人士看好的宇昌案，成為這次總統大選的包袱；相對的，當年因為金馬立委積極鼓吹，民進黨才勉強推動的小三通，竟成了蔡英文寥寥可數的兩岸政績；在頌揚小三通的同時，民進黨也許刻意遺忘他們當初如何詆毀大三通的，但選民卻不可能忘記，民進黨一路走來，在兩岸政策上左支右絀、無法擺脫意識形態包袱的窘境。

在大選前二十天，蔡英文專程跑到金門發表談話，自述當年擔任陸委會主委時、推動小三通過程的艱辛，還不惜講上「小三通，通三小」這樣的粗話，此言聽在當年和民進黨討價還價的金馬立委耳裡，即使不算是搶功，心中可能很不是滋味。

推動小三通所需要的法源依據《離島建設條例》，在民進黨上台前的二○○○年三月，由金馬立委及國民黨立委聯手表決通過；民進黨政府後來即使推動小三通，卻還是有諸多限制，只有經核准赴大陸投資台商、或福建籍榮民等，才能夠經「小三通」赴大陸地區；一直到馬政府上台的二○○○八年六月，推動擴大小三通方案，全面放寬台灣地區人民經「小三通」中轉大陸，進一步的兩岸交流才得以實現。

事實上，民進黨當初之所以願意推動小三通，正是因為不願推動兩岸直航，在民意的壓力下，不得不推出小三通作為替代品，有人形容這是用小三通杯葛大三通；因此，即使蔡英文自吹自擂的小三通，在民進黨執政時，還是劃地自限、以限制為出發點，而不是從人民的便利出發。

小三通如此，更別說民進黨對大三通的態度了。民進黨在二○○八年總統大選時，還直言兩岸直航會讓台灣產業空洞化，根據維基解密，馬政府正式開放三通直航後，蔡英文卻仍在二○○八年十二月十七日向美國在台協會（ＡＩＴ）抱怨說，「直航將傷害台灣的企業與消費者，大量中國物品湧入，可能讓台灣許多企業倒閉。」

開放三通已達三年的今天回顧，蔡英文當年的預判完全錯誤，不但沒有企業因為直航而倒閉，消費者沒有受中國物品之害，相反的，兩岸直航為人民省下舟車勞頓的辛勞、節省了經商往來的成本，直航儼然已成為人民的基本權益。

事實上，今年四月時蔡英文已經完全否定自己過去的主張，她在民進黨總統初選辯論時說，如果民進黨二○○八年贏得政權，也會開放兩岸直航及開放觀光客來台；觀諸民進黨過去歷歷在目的反直航主張，蔡英文的說法，幾乎等同於篡改一頁正在發生的歷史！

坦白說，即使和民進黨歷來領導人的表現比較，蔡英文都是保守到近乎冷戰時期「不接觸、不談判、不妥協」的三不心態，例如，她這次的「金門談話」，形式上要效法的正是二○○二年的陳水扁金門「大膽」談話；但是，就內容來看，當時的陳水扁拋出的是兩岸互訪、邀請當時的中共領導人江澤民喝茶、談天；蔡英文卻只是對民進黨時代綁手綁腳的小三通表功，相比起來，陳水扁的格局還比蔡英文大得多！

從四不一沒有到「大膽談話」，陳水扁當年確實有意推動兩岸和解新局，但後來卻受到綠營基本教義派綁架、無以為繼；蔡英文的兩岸意識形態，則一開始就比陳水扁還僵化，她在扁朝擔任陸委會主委時，曾經阻擋扁接受九二共識；擔任民進黨黨主席時，更將參加國共交流的民進黨員開除黨籍；到了二○○九年，她都還要發動公投反ＥＣＦＡ，並認為ＥＣＦＡ會讓台灣付出慘痛的經濟及政治代價。

這樣「原汁原味」的蔡英文，勢必會將中間或理性選民嚇得退避三舍，甚至連美國都擔心蔡英文上台後，兩岸關係可能再度緊張；也因此，在選舉過程中，蔡英文不斷的進行微調，例如，要持續ＥＣＦＡ、但不願接受九二共識；前天的金門之行，更是試圖以薄弱的兩岸政績，來證明她當選後，兩岸關係不會倒退。

但是，兩岸已經走到全面和平交流的今天，將來更期待能進一步互利互惠，退一步都可能造成重大損失；蔡英文要在選戰最後關頭，克服民進黨選舉的最大罩門、證明她上台後兩岸仍然能夠和平發展，很顯然，她當年綁手綁腳的小三通，是無法撐起這樣舉足輕重的兩岸關係的！