By Phoebe Benich
It is possible that the Ma-Xi summit will hurt the KMT in the upcoming elections more than help it.
The data is in: less than a week after the meeting between Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou and Chinese President Xi Jinping, a plurality of Taiwanese believe Ma does not reflect their views and that he failed to defend Taiwan’s sovereignty and dignity.
Any objective observer would agree last week’s summit was a historic event. However, the lack of progressive or meaningful joint agreements between the two, combined with merely the reiteration of preexisting policies, reveal the domestic interests that drove Ma and Xi to hold the meeting and the desperation that forced Ma to conduct it as he did. Unfortunately for all parties involved, the Taiwanese response to the meeting has thus far not only failed to validate Ma’s political gamble, but also underlined the political weakness of his bargaining position.
With Taiwanese presidential elections approaching in January, Kuomintang (KMT) President Ma used his meeting with Xi Jinping as a way of making his mark. Besides attempting to leave a legacy in the final months of his presidency, Ma used the summit as an attempt to drum up much needed KMT support. Last year’s midterm elections were hugely victorious for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), a result that was viewed as a “vote of no confidence” for Ma’s presidency. Moreover, the KMT was lagging 20% behind DPP candidate Tsai Ing-wen in the presidential race prior to the summit. This is interpreted by many as a reflection of dissatisfaction with the Taiwanese economy as well as increasing support among the Taiwanese people to maintain their (separate) sense of national identity. In a recent poll by the Taiwan Braintrust, nearly 90 percent of the population in Taiwan reported identifying themselves as “Taiwanese” rather than “Chinese.” This does not bode well for the China-friendly KMT.
Read the full story at The Diplomat