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Taiwanese President backs HK protesters while courting Beijing

TAIPEI — Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou yesterday voiced support for the democratic ideals of student protesters in Hong Kong and for greater democracy in mainland China itself, taking a chance on antagonising Beijing as he reaffirmed his policy of seeking further free-trade agreements with the mainland.

TAIPEI — Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou yesterday voiced support for the democratic ideals of student protesters in Hong Kong and for greater democracy in mainland China itself, taking a chance on antagonising Beijing as he reaffirmed his policy of seeking further free-trade agreements with the mainland.

“If mainland China can practise democracy in Hong Kong, or if mainland China itself can become more democratic, then we can shorten the psychological distance between people from the two sides of the Taiwan Strait,’’ Mr Ma said at the presidential palace in Taipei yesterday.

The President’s public pronouncements on the Hong Kong protests — he also expressed support for them in a speech last month on Taiwan’s National Day — show a greater willingness lately to speak out on an issue of considerable sensitivity to the Beijing leadership. But Mr Ma was quick to point out that he had issued an annual statement each June to mourn the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989, and that Beijing had not made those statements an obstacle to improving relations.

“I think our support of Hong Kong’s democracy will not be at the expense of cross-strait relations,” he said.

Mr Ma drew a distinction between his support for the Hong Kong protests and his condemnation of student protests in Taipei earlier this year that indefinitely delayed one of his free-trade agreements with the mainland.

He suggested that the protests in Taiwan, involving the temporary seizing of the legislature and the main government office building, had been more violent. The Hong Kong authorities contend that protesters there had kicked the police and poked them with umbrellas, while the Taiwan protesters have said they were peaceful victims of overly-aggressive policing.

“There is absolutely no contradiction, as I support democracy but oppose violence,” Mr Ma said.

He repeatedly signalled the delicate balancing act he must strike as the leader of a longtime American ally that now has more trade with mainland China than anywhere, and which has long been viewed by Beijing as a Chinese province that must be eventually brought under its control.

In recent weeks, China’s President, Mr Xi Jinping, has suggested it adopt a relationship to China similar to Hong Kong’s “one country, two systems” model. Mr Ma yesterday roundly rejected that idea, which opposition politicians have long dismissed as a nonstarter because it would strip Taiwan of its sovereignty and leave it in a subordinate position.

He also expressed a desire for Taiwan to play a more visible role on issues such as preserving peace in the South China Sea and East China Sea, while chafing at the fact that the mainland authorities had not invited him to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit meeting in Beijing this month.

Taiwan has diplomatic relations with only 22 countries, with the rest of the world recognising Beijing as the government of China.

That has made it harder for Taiwan to negotiate trade pacts. Its companies now face low or zero overseas tariffs for only a tenth of their exports, compared with 70 per cent of Singapore’s exports, Mr Ma said.

As Taiwan has pursued closer cross-strait ties under Mr Ma, critics, including Taiwan’s opposition Democratic Progressive Party, have questioned whether it is sufficiently investing in its defence against the potential threat from China, which has said it would use military force if the island pursues a formal declaration of independence.

“When you look at their defensive expenditures over the last 20 years, I personally am not very impressed with the fact that they take the military threat from the mainland very seriously,” said Mr Bernard Cole, a professor at the National War College in Washington. “They’re not emulating Israel or Singapore in terms of devoting money to defence.”

Mr Ma reiterated Taiwan’s recent desire to begin building its own new submarines, noting that its current fleet of four is rapidly ageing and includes one that is 70 years old and needs to be retired. He said Taiwan would like to acquire submarine technology from the United States, but that it is still in the process of identifying what technology is needed.

Asked which of two visions for free trade in Asia he preferred — the American-led Trans-Pacific Partnership or the Beijing-backed Free Trade Agreement of the Asia-Pacific — Mr Ma replied with emphasis, saying: “Both, we want both.” The New York Times

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