Former Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou speaks to The Globe and Mail at his office in Taipei, Taiwan, on Nov. 8. A major trade agreement Mr. Ma’s government signed with Beijing in 2013 sparked a protest movement in Taiwan and was never ratified by legislators in Taipei.Daniel Ceng/The Globe and Mail
Former Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou, a critic of Taipei’s current government, says Donald Trump spoke ignorantly when he suggested the island should pay Washington for its defence and considers it unlikely the Americans would send troops to help in a conflict with China.
Mr. Ma’s party, the Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang, has not won a presidential election since his last victory in 2012. He has an extremely close relationship with the Communist-led People’s Republic of China, which lays claim to Taiwan. By comparison, Beijing is vocal in its dislike of current Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, from the Democratic Progressive Party, whom it calls a “dangerous separatist.”
Beijing’s Communist Party considers Taiwan a breakaway province despite the fact that it has never ruled the island, where defeated Nationalist forces retreated after losing the Chinese civil war more than 70 years ago. China has sought to annex the island of 24 million and has not ruled out using force. It has staged military exercises near Taiwan more than 10 times since 2018.
Mr. Ma, in an interview on Friday, said Taiwan needs to rebuild bridges with China. He highlighted his own experience in thawing relations with Beijing during his eight years in office, when Taiwan and the PRC signed 23 agreements.
“You have to extend your hand, shake hands and try to convince them that it’s not good for them to use force against Taiwan,” he said of China. “This is my strategy.”
A major trade agreement Mr. Ma’s government signed with Beijing in 2013 sparked a protest movement in Taiwan and was never ratified by legislators in Taipei.
For an unprecedented three presidential elections, starting in 2016, Taiwanese voters have picked the China-skeptical Democratic Progressive Party over the Kuomintang, a party that was once synonymous with power on this island. The most recent vote was Jan. 13.
Remarks Mr. Trump made during the 2024 U.S. election campaign have raised doubts about the president-elect’s commitment to protecting and defending Taiwan. In July, Mr. Trump told Bloomberg he “wouldn’t feel too secure if I was [Taiwan]” and suggested the island should pay the United States protection money for its defence.
Mr. Ma, 74, said the idea that Taiwan should pay for American support is unreasonable. Mr. Trump’s comment, he added, made it seem like he is “ignorant about international politics, particularly in this part of the world.” He said Taiwan’s relationships with the United States and China are strategic, not financial.
He added that he was surprised someone in Mr. Trump’s position “has said something so ignorant about the situation here.”
He said he believes it’s unlikely the United States would “intervene in case of the outbreak of war in this part of the world.” Later, Mr. Ma added that Washington “would not, in my view, send troops to support Taiwan in any conflict with the mainland.” He said the best way to resolve a conflict is negotiation, not force.
Asked if he’s sure the United States would not use its naval might to help Taiwan, Mr. Ma said China is very powerful today. He referenced Vietnam, where U.S troops once fought. “You have to understand: Mainland China is not Vietnam,” he said. It’s “very different from Vietnam. It is now the second-largest economy in the world, and very strong militarily.”
“It’s not worth the U.S. effort to use force in a case like this,” he said, citing the long distance.
Mr. Ma reserved his toughest criticism for what he regards as the independence-minded tendencies of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party. In his May, 2024, inaugural speech, Taiwan’s President, Mr. Lai, said the “Republic of China” – Taiwan’s formal name – “and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other.”
The former president said this kind of talk by Mr. Lai reflects a “two-state theory that mainland China and Taiwan are two independent states, and they have to remain that way.” Mr. Ma said this is “very, very dangerous.”
Both Mr. Lai and his predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen, have said they believe Taiwan is already de-facto independent and no declaration of independence is necessary.
Mr. Lai this fall also said he is willing to work with Beijing on “addressing climate change, combating infectious diseases, and maintaining regional security to pursue peace and mutual prosperity for the well-being of the people on the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.”
In April, Mr. Ma took a group of Taiwanese students to the People’s Republic of China and met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing – just weeks before the newly elected Mr. Lai was to be sworn into office in Taipei.
Mr. Ma said he doesn’t believe China wants conflict. “I don’t think that Xi Jinping is very interested in using force against Taiwan, so we have to use that as a point of departure: gradually advise them to engage in peaceful negotiation with us.”
Asked why China keeps staging military exercises around Taiwan, Mr. Ma said, “Xi Jinping’s policy is quite clear. On one hand, he wants peace. He wants to have peace talks with Taiwan. But on the other hand, he wants to strengthen their military might, just in case they want to use it.”
A May poll by the Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation found only 12.4 per cent of Taiwanese want unification with China. Mr. Ma said he doesn’t believe this means Taiwan has forever ruled out unification.
Mr. Ma said Taiwan and China need to strengthen people-to-people contact and work at improving relations. “By doing that, I think we could gradually, but slowly, move toward a peaceful unification” with the PRC.
“It may take, say, 10 years or 20 years,” he said. “That’s okay.”