Ex-president Ma Ying-jeou accused by former aide of being indifferent to stopping Taiwan-centric culture taking root on island
Taiwan’s former president Ma Ying-jeou has been accused by a former key aide of “failing to see the big picture” and letting a Taiwan-centric culture develop on the island.
The criticisms of Ma were made in a book by Su Chi, his former head of the National Security Council, who complained that he appeared “indifferent” to correcting “misconceptions” about relations with mainland China.
Su Chi criticised his former boss in a new book. Photo: AFP
He was referring to changes to the high school curriculum to downplay links to the mainland made under Ma’s predecessor Chen Shui-bian, of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party, in 2004.
“Many offered constructive advice to Ma when he ran for president [in 2008], but after he took office, it seemed he was busy with his administration and stopped short of correcting the misconceptions of the previous years … Many people asked him to reset the guideline changes, but he appeared indifferent,” Su wrote.
Su also said that despite his gentlemanly image, Ma’s “reluctance to take note of his fundamental support base” had caused “grumbles from people on his side”.
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Su said such an attitude explained why “de jure independence” took root in Taiwan.
The DPP, which returned to power when Ma stepped down in 2016, has promoted a Taiwan-centric identity in an attempt to gradually distance the island from the mainland. More than two-thirds of people on the island now identify as Taiwanese instead of Chinese.
Beijing views Taiwan as part of China and has not renounced the use of force to bring it under its control, repeatedly warning the island against formally declaring its independence.
Only a handful of countries have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but its most important unofficial partner the United States is legally bound to help it defend itself.
In the book, Taiwan’s Choice in the Face of US-China Confrontation, Su said Ma had done a great job in improving cross-strait relations and had signed a number of agreements with the mainland.
But he complained this had not translated into strong support for Ma or the mainland-friendly Kuomintang, and criticised the appointment of the pro-independence Lai Shin-yuan as head of the Mainland Affairs Council, which guides cross-strait policy.
Su said Lai not only failed to promote Ma’s achievements but remained “resistant to conciliation” and “diluted [cross-strait] civilian exchanges”.
Ma had neglected his KMT base and wanted to win goodwill from the DPP, even though it opposed and boycotted his policies.
Su also described Ma as a “clean freak” who was reluctant to get too close to some KMT legislators for fear he would be tainted by accusations of corruption, adding that this pushed away some people who would otherwise have wanted to work with him.
“He seemed to take note of ‘petty matters’ but not the ‘big things,’” Su said, adding Ma would “tie himself up in meticulous details that made him lose sight of the big picture, which is what a leader should do”.
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Su also criticised Ma for failing to promote the KMT’s “party ideology” and being indifferent to signing up future talents, which had weakened the party’s influence.
Ma would easily “back off in the face of harsh criticism from the opposition camp and poor opinion ratings”, Su said, citing a U-turn on building a nuclear plant that he had previously supported.
Su said Ma would “sacrifice the knights to save the king” pointing to a number of politicians who resigned after taking the blame for government failures, including Liu Chao-shiua who stepped down as premier following a serious flood.
Hsiao Hsu-tsen, executive director of Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, said the former president had read Su’s book and thanked his “old colleagues for their services,” but it was “unlikely president Ma would respond to any of their comments”.
“But personally, I feel regret over what Su Chi said about the president,” Hsiao said, adding Ma had done many things to bring peace and stability to both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
