Taiwan, Are you Feeling Like the World is Your Oyster?

Friday March 08, by Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

Within the last month, Taiwan's president Ma Ying-jeou has stated that the relations between Taiwan and the USA are the best that they have ever been in the last half century. He also stated that the relations between Taiwan and Japan are the best they have ever been in the last half century. And finally, he stated just yesterday that the relations between Taiwan and China are the best they have ever been, also in the past half century.

Doesn't that sound fantastic. So if everything is going so well, Taiwanese should feel that the world is their oyster. They have no real enemies or foes; things should be to use an old expression "peachy keen" on the island.

Yet, bigger questions arise. If Taiwan's relations with all of its important neighbors etc. are the best they have been in the past half century, why then are the President's approval ratings hovering around 13 per cent; why do people feel the economy is in the doldrums and has been for some time; basically, why is the general feeling that the country is floundering a prevailing thought?

Could it be that the people are finally seeing through the Ma-speak and his public relations messages? There will be more.