Spring Is In The Air - Hong Kong and Taipei draw closer
By YULANDA CHUNG
Monday, February 19, 2001
Web posted at 07:25 p.m. Hong Kong time, 07:25 a.m. GMT
It is encouraging to see that relations between Hong Kong and Taiwan are thawing at last. They reached their iciest more than two years ago, when Chang Liang-jen, appointed the de facto representative of Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in Hong Kong, was refused a visa to take up his post here. It took 13 months for authorization to come through. Chang's party officially supports independence for Taiwan, which makes him a most unpleasant character in the eyes of Beijing. Naturally, Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa toes that line.
Lately, though, things seem to have changed. Not only has Chang been allowed to take up his post, but the mayor of Taipei, Ma Ying-jeou, was enthusiastically welcomed to Hong Kong by Tung. Earlier this week, I met briefly with Chang. He told me he was having a lot of trouble finding somewhere to live - which I suppose is only to be expected, given that he was never quite sure when he would be allowed in.
In his meeting with Ma, a member of the now-ousted Kuomintang party, Tung asked the Taipei mayor how he managed to keep his popularity rating so high, at about 70%. It's a relevant question coming from someone whose own approval level last year fell to 20%. "Play more basketball and take up jogging," a legislator accompanying Ma replied on the mayor's behalf. Ma's strict exercise regimen is a constant theme in the Taiwan in press. Tung should consider something like that, though I doubt whether chucking a ball through a hoop is going to do much to mend his reputation.
Pro-Beijing newspapers in Hong Kong lauded the bonding sessions between the two men. Both stayed well clear of politics, with Ma reiterating time and again that he was in Hong Kong on a cultural and economic exchange only. His public relations skills defused a number of political timebombs. He said he didn't want to speculate on why Tung had snubbed Nobel Laureate for literature Gao Xingjian, a Chinese exile and one-time political prisoner, while he had been warmly embraced in Taipei. "Gao is our resident writer, and we like him a lot," Ma said. "I don't know what treatment he received in Hong Kong."
Economic relations between Hong Kong and Taiwan are good, with two-way trade at $33.6 billion last year, up 25%. And 3.8 million Taiwanese visited Hong Kong in 2000, 20% up on the year before. During their meeting, Ma invited Tung to visit Taipei. Given Beijing's blessing of the new relationship, the Hong Kong leader will no doubt be doing that before too long. Anyway, he is known to enjoy Taiwanese food - especially the famous Din Thai Phon's dumplings. His sister is married to a Taiwanese businessman.
Even though he had nothing to offer them on the political front, Ma enchanted the Hong Kong media. The cameras were there at 6.30 in the morning for his daily jog. And on the eve of Valentine's Day, he bowed to journalists' pressure and said "I miss you a lot" on air to his wife in Taipei. He disclosed he had bought his wife of 25 years a Valentine's gift in America - something to eat, he said. At a spring dinner hosted by Chang, Ma offered a bouquet of flowers to Emily Lau, a feisty pro-democracy legislator in Hong Kong. Not only that, he gave her two pecks on the cheek. No offense to Tung, but I don't think he should consider imitating this. He doesn't have Ma's good looks or smooth manners.
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