The rising China is taking up "big power diplomacy," "regional diplomacy," and "economic and trade diplomacy" to maximize its influence--and ambition--on the world, Vice President Annette Lu said on May 13 at a conference in which she commented on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-Kuomintang (KMT) Economic Forum.
The vice president summarized her recent observation that through international organizations like APEC and ASEAN, and through economic cooperation with the island countries in the Pacific, China is desperate to assume its leading role in Asia --and in the world.
The vice president was especially worried about China's economic development, seeing it as a "predation." The predation, the vice president analyzed, took form in three different aspects: predation of the global capital, of the global market, and of the global natural resources. She further explained that China's accumulation of foreign capital, seizing the Asian market under the disguise of the ASEAN network, and over-consumption of the world energy, oil in particular, are the unmistakable evidence of Chinese economic predation. However, the vice president implied that China is nonetheless digging a grave for itself for the gap between the rich and the poor is far from amendable in China.
The vice president then compared the competitiveness of Taiwan and China, citing that Taiwan's "growth competitiveness," "competitiveness in technology," and "overall competitiveness" are respectively ranked 5th, 3rd, and 11th, far higher than China's 49th, 64th, and 31rst in the same categories. "However," she added, "Taiwan's ranking fell a little bit in the latest report, which is a warning sign for all of us."
Referring to her initiative of the "new coast-to-coast relations," the vice president said that the Central America Free Trade Agreement and the Free Trade Area of the Americas will involve as many as 34 countries and approximately 600 million people, which, she argued, should not be neglected by Taiwan.
In her comments, she also announced that the "Taiwan Park in El Salvador," a cooperation project between Taiwan and El Salvador, will break ground in three months, and she hoped that Taiwan's businesses will make use of it.
"Taiwan does not depend on China for its prospects in the 21st century," concluded the vice president.