Towards lasting peace in the Asia-Pacific

In the latest business news, we read of countries going under recession one after another after the subprime mortgage problem hit the United States and continues to cascade into a widening global financial crisis. European economies were first affected, with governments having to bailout next to the US. As world stock prices decline, recession moved to the Asian countries as American and European investments infused during the last five years, were pulled out. The latest news we read is Taiwan’s declining economy, the first time since 2003. With a new president elected early this year, hopes were high for a boost in Taiwan’s economy until the US was forced to reduce its demand for its high-tech exports.

This global turmoil that threatens to catapult the whole world in a global recession occurs with the election early this month of a new president of a world power, the United States. People around the world are hoping that America’s choice of a new leader will be a powerful catalyst in encouraging nations to cooperate in addressing the many global challenges at hand. At about the same time that the new American president was being elected, another significant event took place on the other side of the world. In Taipei, representatives of the governments of Taiwan and Mainland China inked a series of agreements that marked a historic step towards easing tensions across the Taiwan Strait and enhancing prospects for peace and prosperity in the whole Asia-Pacific region. We know that for the past six decades, Taiwan and Mainland China were in conflict over sovereignty that has been feared to lead into a catastrophic war. Taiwan’s newly elected President Ma Ying-jeou leads with a strong mandate to improve cross-strait relations.       

With the landmark agreements forged by Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and mainland China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), both countries look forward to progress in more friendly relations towards lasting peace. The agreements may seem unremarkable at first glance. They are technical accords that establish formal frameworks for modes of interaction taken for granted by virtually all the other societies in the international community. Included in these agreements are measures to ensure the safety of imported foods; to allow direct maritime shipping; to commence weekday charter flights across the strait and to expand cooperation in postal services. The first two agreements opened the door to weekend cross-strait charter flights and visits of mainland Chinese tour groups to Taiwan. Simple as these agreements may seem, the mere fact that two previously hostile countries agreed to reach a consensus to focus on issues of immediate, practical importance to both of them instead of pushing thorny sovereignty issues, is a great achievement for a start.

No one should underestimate the challenges facing the societies on either side of the strait in their mutual efforts to improve relations. In his victory speech, President-elect Barack Obama said, “The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there.” That same day, on the other side of the planet, leaders in Taipei and Beijing hailed their victory over hostility and pessimism in similarly upbeat but realistic terms. We do hope that Taiwan and mainland China will succeed in transforming enmity into amity. They must believe they can, despite a long and arduous road ahead, in order to reach lasting peace in the cross-straits.