'Historic' visit hardly making history

In 1993, when two chief negotiators of China and Taiwan met for talks for the first time, in Singapore, no effort was spared in ensuring a display of equal footing.

Four copies of the pacts signed at NOL Building were made. Two were inscribed in the traditional Chinese script that runs vertically, as used in Taiwan. Two were in simplified Chinese running horizontally, as in China.

Then came another headache: Which year to use? Taiwan marks its calendar by counting from the 1912 founding of the minguo, the Republic of China, Taiwan's official title. So what was 1993 in the Gregorian calendar would have been minguo 82. The solution: Omit the year altogether. The accords would go down in history as being marked with the date and month - but not the year.

There were other details, right down to how China's then Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits chairman Wang Daohan and Taiwan's then Straits Exchange Foundation chairman Koo Chen-fu swopped seats midway, due to a custom that the one on the right is for the "more senior".

Last Wednesday, on the first day of Mr Zhang Zhijun's visit here - the first by a Chinese official overseeing cross-strait policy, Taiwan's representative Wang Yu-chi was quizzed on a particularly pressing matter. Eagle-eyed reporters noticed that clay cups made for the occasion had the names of the Chinese delegation and their agency - Taiwan Affairs Office - carved.

Those for the Taiwan side included just their names but not their agency - Mainland Affairs Council (MAC).

Does this not "depress" Taiwan's standing relative to China's, asked a journalist.

Mr Wang laughed it off, telling the media not to "think too much". "It is a gift for the other side. We ourselves will be using the cups in the office and we're all from MAC. The point of putting names on mugs is so we don't use the wrong one."

That cross-strait ties appear to have moved on from the uber-sensitive stage 21 years ago when every single nuance was explored for fear of non-parity, to a breezier approach today, reflects the more stable state of the relationship.

But after years of warming ties, the momentum seems to have stalled, following the Sunflower protest in March against a services trade pact and increasing fears that closer economic ties mean an infiltration of Chinese political influence.

So did Mr Zhang's four-day trip to Taiwan ending yesterday help kick-start it?

The first by a Chinese policymaking official to Taiwan, it was freighted with expectations.

Indeed, Mr Zhang came bearing gifts. There was an agreement on allowing representative offices to visit detainees held by the other side. Talks will begin on letting Chinese tourists transit in Taiwan, a boon to its tourism sector. Beijing also seemed to have softened its stance on Taiwan partaking in regional economic pacts.

Still, he had to cancel all his stops yesterday and left Taipei earlier than scheduled due to demonstrations - in one incident last Friday night, paint was splashed on his vehicle. It has been noted, however, that protests have not been of the level that dogged visiting mainland representatives in the past.

The opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), eager to appear mature in handling cross-strait relations, also received Mr Zhang via Kaohsiung mayor Chen Chu.

Beyond the immediate takeaways, an assessment of the broader significance of Mr Zhang's trip must be on two fronts - if it paves the way to political talks, and if it results in a better appreciation on the mainland of the range of opinion in Taiwan about cross-strait relations, says Taiwan expert Richard Bush of the Brookings Institution.

Progress, if any, on either will be too soon to tell now.

At this point though, some, like former premier Frank Hsieh of the DPP, are upbeat, saying that while Mr Zhang was expending "political saliva" with a pledge to respect the Taiwanese people's choices in their societal systems, values and lifestyles, it is "better than nothing".

Beyond that, the two sides appear as far apart as ever on the fundamental issue of Taiwan's political future. The Chinese envoy determinedly swerved the heated question of whether the island's future is up to China's 1.3 billion people - as his office asserted before his trip - or Taiwan's 23 million people. This was even as he asked for political talks to be kick-started, which Taiwan's Mr Wang rejected due to the lack of consensus.

And to what extent did the Jiangsu native, who promised to "bring his ears" to Taiwan, truly listen, especially to the san zhong yi qing, or the "three middles" (middle-lower income, middle Taiwan, small and medium-sized enterprises) and "one youth"?

On this, Mr Zhang appears to have moved cautiously - perhaps too much so. A carefully selected crop of 20 undergraduates represented his "dialogue with students". They could have been outspoken in expressing views but the public would never know as the session was barred to the media.

It is thus unclear if he did manage to convey to the Taiwanese the important message that Beijing is seriously committed to listening to them - and will follow up by engaging those "suspicious and sceptical" of its intentions, which Dr Bush notes is key to further progress.

So, with little about the trip to engage them, the general Taiwanese public is unfortunately more exercised about the World Cup than the "historic" visit, "unequally" engraved cups and all.

This article was first published on June 29, 2014.
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