Overseas Chinese influencers decry ex-President Ma's cross-strait stance

Taipei, Jan. 11 (CNA) Former president Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) recent controversial take on navigating the relationship between Taiwan and China was a focal point during a forum in Taipei on Thursday that featured an election observer group comprised of media personalities.

The forum, held by the Taipei Trust in Democracy Association, was attended by a group of prominent Chinese-speaking vloggers and influencers who post political content and are critical of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The privately-run association founded by former Want Daily President Huang Ching-lung (黃清龍) states on its website that it works to study cross-strait issues and offer unbiased and practical suggestions.

Among those in attendance was U.S.-based vlogger Zhang Tianliang (章天亮), who questioned Ma's claim in an interview with Deutsche Welle (DW) that the United States would "try everything to avoid directly" getting involved in a conflict with China if the latter invaded Taiwan.

"That's totally wrong," Zhang told the forum. "The United States, whether it be for self-interest, for maintaining the world order established after World War II, or for maintaining its supply chains worldwide, would definitely protect Taiwan, make no mistake about it," Zhang said.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the forum, Hong Kong electronics entrepreneur-turned-political activist Elmer Yuen (袁弓夷) said Ma was a "fool" for telling DW something as nonsensical as "you have to" trust Chinese leader Xi Jinping (習近平) when it comes to cross-strait relations.

"If you deal with the CCP, you will get ripped off, because everything you've agreed upon, they will simply ignore," he said, citing the Sino-British Joint Declaration signed between the United Kingdom and China in 1984 that stated Hong Kong would retain 50 years of self-governance under a "one country, two systems" framework after its handover to China in 1997.

China on July 1, 2017, unilaterally voided the document, saying it was a "historical document" that no longer had practical significance.

"That's why Hong Kong no longer has a future," he said.

In his video uploaded Thursday morning before the forum, vlogger Tang Jingyuan (唐靖遠) took issue with Ma's comments that Taiwan should also focus on peaceful dialogue with China rather than on solely building up its military capacity.

In the interview with DW, the former president said Taiwan's current spending on defense, which makes up about 2.5 percent of its GDP, would have been sufficient and could even have been reduced if a working communication mechanism had existed between the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Beijing.

Ma was also dismissive of the DPP administration's extension of conscription to 12 months, arguing that four months would have been sufficient if the two sides of the Taiwan Strait had the potential to resolve issues through dialogue.

Asked by CNA to elaborate on his views, Tang said peace should not come at the expense of freedom.

"Although Chinese people largely live a comfortable life - after all, China is the second largest economy in the world - they have no freedom. The economy seems quite good. But they have no freedom, and that life is exactly the life that the CCP envisions for Taiwanese people."

In choosing the future direction of their country, the first consideration for Taiwanese should not be how likely a war is to break out, but whether there will continue to be freedom, Tang said.

"If a bully is sharpening his knife and ready to plunder your property and occupy your home, you don't have a choice," he said.

United Microelectronics Corporation founder Robert Tsao (曹興誠), who was invited to the forum as a speaker, slammed Ma for suggesting that peace depended on the goodwill of Xi.

"Taiwan is like no other democracy. It is faced with an autocratic strong power, which thinks all day long about how to upend its government," Tsao said.

He urged the Taiwanese people to be mindful of Chinese attempts to infiltrate Taiwan culturally and ethnically, influence it economically, and intimidate it militarily.

He described the presidential and legislative elections on Saturday as a war between a young democracy and an autocracy that is constantly running a "united front" campaign against the former.

"We can't afford to take any chances in the face of the evil communist party," he said of the upcoming elections.