China and Taiwan: Whose status quo?
By Macabe Keliher
TAIPEI - Near the middle of his term, Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian hosted a dinner for the island's most prominent businessmen. As they took turns speaking, their suggestions turned to direct accusations: Chen was not opening links with mainland China, nor was he making investment in China easier; he was not fostering better relations with Beijing. In order to do that, Chen finally said, he would have to change the status quo and accept the "one China" principle. "And no one was willing to change the status quo and accept Beijing's 'one China'," recalled Joseph Wu, deputy secretary to the president, who was present at the dinner.
While calling for economic policy change, business leaders are content with the political status quo; so is more than 80 percent of Taiwan's population, according to polls. Chen blithely announced last week that his referendums will not change the status quo after US President George W Bush said he opposed any such change, for which Beijing "expresses its appreciation". Yet the status quo is an ambiguous thing at best, and better described as a malleable idea, through which everyone from Taiwanese businessmen to US presidents are allowed to entertain fantasies on what it means. And while all parties involved are committed to "upholding the status quo", referendums and Taiwan nationalism may make Beijing realize that the real status quo no longer reflects its idea of status quo, giving the bellicose giant no other option but military action against Taiwan.
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