TAICHUNG (Taiwan News) — The Kyoto Tachibana High School Band “Orange Devils” high-energy musical and dance performance at this year’s Double Ten Day celebrations was lovely. At the end of their impressive performance, the Japanese performers lined up with their counterparts from Taichung’s Stella Matutina Secondary School, their hands forming together to make heart shapes.
Aside from that heartwarming interlude, this year’s Double Ten Day was the same old dance that has taken place since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office. All the same players are acting out the same script for six years now.
It starts with the release of the official event logo. Inevitably, some people don’t like it. The Kuomintang (KMT) every year has fits over the English label below the logo. In 2016, the label simply read “National Day,” but every year since, it has been “Taiwan National Day.”
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) every year defends it by noting that having “Republic of China” on the label would confuse foreigners, who identify the country as Taiwan. Naturally, we wouldn’t want to confuse all these foreigners who flew in on China Airlines on their Republic of China visas.
ROC annihilation
KMT Taipei mayoral candidate Wayne Chiang (蔣萬安) railed against it, saying “our country is the Republic of China” and “our countrymen totally can’t accept this.” KMT Chair Eric Chu (朱立倫), speaking to the press after the party’s flag ceremony on the morning of Double Ten said “Tsai Ing-wen is annihilating the Republic of China.”
Standing next to him at the same event, former President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said that this was worsening cross-strait relations, and accused Tsai of proposing that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait don’t belong together. Ma went further later at an event in Kaohsiung, accusing Tsai of acting unconstitutionally, saying “the two sides of the Taiwan Strait aren’t two countries, they are two areas.”
Between those two events, however, he attended Tsai’s speech, and did clap when she mentioned the Republic of China. But mostly, Ma studiously ignored the DPP administration figures seated near him, and busied himself inspecting the goodies in the complimentary swag bag.
Abolish Double Ten Day?
Criticism also comes from the other end of the political spectrum. Every year, various groups and political parties, such as the Taiwan Statebuilding Party (TSP) use the holiday to call for Double Ten Day to be abolished and a new national day established.
They point out that Double Ten Day commemorates the Wuchang Uprising (武昌起義) in 1911, which eventually led to the overthrow of the Manchurian Qing Dynasty in China. They point out that Taiwan was a part of the Japanese Empire at the time, that Taiwan isn’t a part of China now, and that Double Ten Day is totally unrelated to Taiwan.
Taiwan’s National Day Address
The president’s speech is also formulaic. It serves a function much like the State of the Union speech does in the United States.
Like a typical State of the Union address, much of it is devoted to a self-congratulatory listing of accomplishments of the current administration. Then it lays out the agenda going forward in positive and glowing terms.
One section of the annual speech, however, isn’t like the State of the Union. It also garners the most international press attention: The section devoted to relations with China.
Three-part speech
In Tsai’s speeches this section includes three elements. It starts with laying out the bad things that Beijing has been getting up to toward Taiwan, a call for peace and negotiations with China, and a hook for the press.
This year, the first part of the China section started with this:
“Peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is the basis for the development of cross-strait relations. It is regrettable that, in recent years, the Beijing authorities' escalation of their military intimidations, diplomatic pressure, trade obstructions, and attempts to erase the sovereignty of the Republic of China (Taiwan) have threatened the status quo of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the region.”
The end of the section is the usual call for peace and negotiation:
“We look forward to the gradual resumption of healthy and orderly cross-strait people-to-people exchanges after the loosening of border restrictions on both sides, thereby easing tensions in the Taiwan Strait.
Provided there is rationality, equality, and mutual respect, we are willing to work with the Beijing authorities to find a mutually agreeable arrangement for upholding peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. This is our shared responsibility.”
Ostensibly, this is a message to Beijing. It isn’t, though, and Tsai knows this.
There is no chance they will respond positively unless she reverently utters the magic words “1992 Consensus.” There is no chance of that happening.
Tsai’s clever hooks
The address is really for two audiences: Domestic voters and foreign diplomats. The basic message is always that Tsai is firm in defending Taiwan’s sovereignty, democracy and way of life — but is also reasonable, rational and desires peace.
Then there is the hook, which this year took this form:
“I want to make clear to the Beijing authorities that armed confrontation is absolutely not an option for our two sides. Only by respecting the commitment of the Taiwanese people to our sovereignty, democracy, and freedom, can there be a foundation for resuming constructive interaction across the Taiwan Strait.”
Because the Double Ten Day speech gets so much attention, Tsai knows with the right hook she can get Taiwan international news coverage. This is an excellent opportunity to get worldwide attention focused on Taiwan’s cause, and this year it worked brilliantly.
Headlines broke like, “Taiwan leader tells China war 'absolutely not an option'.” Both CNN and BBC both breathlessly reported on it.
Tsai’s balancing act
Getting the balance just right throughout these three parts is actually quite difficult. From her time in the Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) administration, as head of the Mainland Affairs Council, Tsai would have learned the hard lessons of Chen's more forceful comments (though they sound pretty tame nowadays). These drew the ire of international, and especially American diplomats, who labelled him a “troublemaker.”
Simultaneously, while not sounding too aggressive, she can’t come across as passive or weak. A determined firmness is necessary, or neither voters nor international partners would view her as a competent steward of the nation’s military and a reliable partner internationally.
The president makes it look easy, but it isn’t. She makes good use of all the experience gained from her background in both diplomacy and politics. This has given her a striking ability to get the balance just right to strike a pitch-perfect tone for a disparate variety of audiences, domestic and international.
