Daily Bloom is the shortform blog of New Bloom, covering breaking news events as they occur in real-time. 

As the illegitimate leaders of ROC and PRC alike have just emerged from a closed door session, we might remark upon the cringe worthy remarks that we have just heard from the these two prime representatives of capitalist interests in the Sinophone world.

As a Marxist and a Taiwanese, it is hard to decide which side hits lower in terms of content. Xi’s endless lovebombing of “brotherly kinship” across the strait is yet another rehashing of nationalist propaganda based on mostly exaggerated national history, and such unwanted claim of kinship only serve to repulse those with a sane mind. This is of course, expected. What is sharply lacking is any mentioning of socialism or internationalist perspectives, or even a shred of critique of capitalist developement. Granted that the “Communist Party” Xi now leads is merely a club of billionaires wearing the husk of Maoism that died long ago.

Just as socialism was completely absent from Xi’s remarks, any mention of “Taiwan” or even “Republic of China” were no where to be seen in Ma’s opening statement. He danced to the same tune of Xi’s nationalism, repeating trite idioms and anecdotes to create labored atmosphere of national solidarity. At the same time, Ma predictably went back on his promise of not making any deals, and made several proposals that sound like nothing but deals with Xi. The September 2nd Consensus is of course invoked dogmatically, but in this instance “One China” is Ma’s sole focus. The welfare of those who elected him into office are completely ignored. Here, we see the true face of a bourgeois politician who is not loyal to voters, but only loyal to capital. In Ma’s case that’s the capital promised by neoliberal deals with China.

This gathering may have been packaged by some to be a landmark of peace and progress, but the working class on both sides of the strait should interpret the Ma-Xi meeting as nothing but a congress of people who work against them. Only with a robust socialist revolutionary program and the leadership of the working class can we liberate ourselves from the hands of these people who do nothing but demanding your service to their nationalism.

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Author: Parson Young
Photo Credit: 林澔
Biography: Parson Young (楊進) is an M.A. student at New York University. He is a member of the International Marxist Tendency.
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