1

TAIWANS RELATIONS WITH THE OUTSAIDE WORLD

U.S-Taiwan relations have been reasonably smooth following the bumpy ride involving the importation of American beef in 2009-2012. In the late 2012, Taiwan joined the U.S Visa Waiver Program.

Ma achievement in Taiwans dealing with the outside world

2. Taiwan relations with China have been stabilized during Ma term in office In June 2013, China and Taiwan signed the services trade agreement.3. On the issue of the Diaoyutai Islands in the East China Sea, Taiwan faced the problem of whether or not to side with China in confronting Japan. In the end, the Ma administration struck a deal with Japan in April giving Taiwanese vessels fishing rights in a large area outside the 12-nautical miles zone surrounding the islands. Both sides agreed not to touch upon competing sovereignty claims.

Other good news for the Mas administration on the international front in 2013

Taiwan participation in the meeting of the U.N International Civil Aviation Organization(ICAO).Taiwan signed a free trade agreement with New Zealand in July.In the early November, Taiwan also signed a free trade agreement with Singapore.

The Guang Da Xing NO.28 incident

In May, a Taiwanese fishing boat, the Guang Da Xing NO.28 was fired at by a Philippine coast guard patrol boat in the overlapping exclusive economic zones of the two areas, causing the death of a Taiwanese fisherman. At first, the Philippine government didnt offer a formal apology, leading to heightened tensions between the two areas. Taiwan imposed a series of sanctions against the Philippines.

Finally, in August, Taipei lifted the sanctions after Manila expressed deep regret and apology, and indicated that it was committed to prosecuting the coast guard personnel accused of killing.

In addition, Gambia decided to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan in November, the first country to derecognize Taiwan since Ma assumed office in 2008. China denied that it was involved in Gambia s move.

A President Besieged

All these events, domestic and international, were closely intertwined with President Mas popularity. In fact, his popularity has never been very high since he took office in 2008. His popularity during his first term (2008-2012) seldom surpassed 40%, and the figure has dropped to 20% or less since he was sworn in for his second term in May 2012. In September, only 13% of the respondents were satisfied with his performance, and Ma has been unable to truly recover from that low mark.

Following the infighting between President Ma and Speaker Wang in September 2013, Mas popularity decreased to 9.2%.

Factors help to account for Mas low popularityLong-term factors

Taiwans Confucian legacy, which brings high expectation of an enlightened ruler. When the rulers performance does not live up to expectations, frustration arises.

2. Taiwan is a divided societydivided mainly along the lines of national identify, referring to whether Taiwan should be politically unified with or permanently separated from China. Such a cleavage also causes problems for governance in Taiwan, particularly in policy areas related to China, as witnessed by the strong hostile reactions to services trade agreement with China. Such reactions likely further restrained the presidents attempt at improving his approval rating.

Short-term factors

Economic performance is obviously critical. As noted above, as Ma took office in 2008, the global financial crisis hit Taiwans economy. Although there was a rebound after late 2009, it did not last long. Overall, the economy has not significantly improved in the past several years.

2. There has been a number of disastrous incidents during the presidents term that his administration was accused of mishandling. One example was Typhoon Morakot in August 2009, official rescue efforts were seen as clumsy and inefficient.

Other factorsMas leadership style has spawned criticism. He has been accused of relying too heavily on a small circle of advisors, most of whom have Ph.D.s and backgrounds similar to his.the importation of American beef pension reforms for civil servanthiked prices for gasoline and electricitya capital gains taxscandals involving close associates

All of these instances show a discrepancy between what people expect and what they have actually attained. In particular, some incidents such as pension reform directly alienate President Mas own support base.

Conclusion

The year 2013 was a tough one for President Ma and his administration. The economy was lackluster at best. Tensions between the executive and legislative branches ran high; Mas popularity decreased to new lows.Although there was some good news on the international front, the reactions were not always positive at home. Political juggling has already begun over who will represent the KMT and the DPP in the presidential election of 2016.

Thanks for your attention: )