Brian Hioeby Brian Hioe
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Photo Credit: Cheng Li-wun/Facebook
THE KMT HAS again opened itself up to criticism, with a series of recent trips to China by seven KMT legislators. The seven legislators are Weng Hsiao-ling, Lin Szu-ming, Yeh Yuan-chih, Cheng Cheng-chien, Chiu Jo-hua, Lu Yu-ling, and Tu Chuan-chi. Former KMT legislator John Chiang, the father of Taipei mayor Chiang Wan-an, as well as KMT Mainland Affairs director Chang Ya-ping, too, were in attendance.
In particular, the trip to China by the seven KMT legislators is for the 33rd anniversary banquet of the Xiamen Taiwanese Business Association. The KMT legislators have defended the trip as a normal and regular one, given ties with Taiwanese business organizations in China by the KMT. The banquet took place on December 20th.
At the same time, criticisms have taken place because the visit is seen as a ploy of the United Front. Members of the Taiwan Affairs Office were, unsurprisingly, also in attendance at the banquet. To this extent, even if planned well in advance, the trip took place immediately after a stabbing incident that left four dead, including the attacker, and shook Taiwanese society. The optics of traveling to China so quickly may not reflect well on the KMT.
Indeed, in a similar timeframe, Taipei mayoral officials are set to travel to Shanghai for the annual Taipei-Shanghai Twin City Forum. The trip will take place on December 27th and 28th. Taipei mayor Chiang Wan-an will only attend the second and last day of the two-day forum. This is likely due to the fact that Chiang would face criticisms with the view that he is abandoning Taipei at a time of need to run to China, again, following the deadly stabbing incident in Taipei last week.
Chiang’s trip takes place after some tension between his mayoral administration and the Mainland Affairs Council. The Mainland Affairs Council received a list of participants from the Chiang mayoral administration as to who intended to attend the Twin City Forum, as well as their itineraries, in September. But the Mainland Affairs Council denied Shanghai Taiwan Affairs Office deputy director Li Xiaodong entrance to Taiwan in November, citing continued hostilities from China directed at Taiwan.
Although Chiang’s plans to visit Shanghai were approved, it can be seen that the Mainland Affairs Council did so begrudgingly. The Mainland Affairs Council has refused to allow Chinese government officials entrance to Taiwan as part of trips related to the Twin City Forum on several occasions, including cases of outright denials, as well as other cases in which only some members of delegations were allowed to visit. One notes that there have been cases of Chinese officials visiting Taipei for planning about the Twin City Forum, timing their visits to coincide with trips by Chinese celebrities, as part of United Front messaging that draws on the soft power of Chinese entertainers.
Given that China threatens to annex Taiwan by military force, the DPP has called for greater clarity into visits to China by pan-Blue legislators. It has emerged that in the past 1.5 years, the KMT has, across four legislative sessions, blocked legislation that would require legislators visiting China to report on such travel and provide details 751 times. The Executive Yuan now seeks to pass legislation again requiring legislators to seek approval before travel to China, but it is unlikely the KMT-controlled legislature would approve this.
In recent years, KMT legislative caucus leader Fu Kun-chi has drawn significant fire over trips to China and Hong Kong. Fu is often perceived as traveling to China to meet with Chinese minders, in that such trips seem to take place before efforts by Fu to pass controversial legislation in the Legislative Yuan.
Fu has attempted to hide his trips, including one instance in which Fu posted a photo of himself apparently recovering at home from sickness, when he was in fact traveling to Hong Kong. Fu’s travel plans were revealed by KMT Legislative Yuan president Han Kuo-yu in comments. During this same trip, a member of Fu’s delegation was detained by Chinese authorities at the border over fraud charges, but Fu did not come to her aid, nor did he report the incident to the Mainland Affairs Council. Still, as the recent trip shows, it is far more than just Fu Kun-chi who travels to China.