Ma promises peace accord

KMT nominee Ma Ying-jeou said yesterday afternoon, if the KMT comes to power next year, he will immediately extend his hand to take care of four cross strait problems. First, security; on the foundation of the "92 consensus," he will negotiate and sign an agreement with the other side of the [China], and also establish a mechanism for mutual military exchange in order to end the hostile relationship between the two sides. Second, to improve the cross-strait trade relationship, he will push to normalize cross-strait trade by opening up direct flights. Third, he will promote establishing a cross-strait common market. Fourth, he would talk with the Communist party about the cross-strait "international space" problem.

Ma's laid his cards on the table. And I am not sure the issue can be focused on the fundamental problem, that this is just a reformulation of the "No independence, no attack" deal he has wanted to sign with the CCP. It may well be seen as selling out Taiwan, but on the other hand, it just sounds like a good deal! Such a peace agreement will fundamentally alter the status quo to make unification the only option -- this point will probably not be discussed by the KMT. And notice also that Ma didn't say he would pass these issues to the people in a referendum.

I'm a little worried. I think Ma's plan will sell well. They were always going to talk about the economic part, but Ma has laid low on the peace agreement thing for a while, and I thought he might drop it. Edit: interesting editorial on this in the Liberty Times today which points out the main problem is a lack of a unifying Taiwan identity being a serious problem.

Also, Ma said he would "demand" China withdrawal their missiles before negotiations. Of course, if you're surrendering, that's easy; if you're insisting that Taiwan = ROC , != PRC, then they'll never take the missiles away.