英字新聞

--The Asahi Shimbun, Jan. 16
EDITORIAL: Taiwan’s voters show reserved support for expansion of China ties
台湾総統選―対中安定を選んだ民意

"In Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 14, voters gave qualified support, not unconditional approval, to expanded ties with China. That probably best sums up the election outcome.
　中国との交流拡大はよいが、手放しでは歓迎できない――。

Incumbent President Ma Ying-jeou of the ruling Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) won re-election, defeating Tsai Ing-wen, head of the main opposition Democratic Progressive Party.
　台湾の総統選で、国民党の馬英九（マー・インチウ）総統が民進党の蔡英文（ツァイ・インウェン）主席らを退けた。示された民意をつづめて言えばこうではないか。

China-Taiwan relations soured markedly during the previous government of the DPP.
　中台関係は民進党の前政権期に悪化した。

Ma was first elected president four years ago by promising to mend ties with China.
馬氏は改善を掲げて４年前の総統選に初当選し、

Ma implemented a series of steps to deliver on his pledge.
He launched regular direct flights between Taiwan and China, lifted a ban on visits by mainland Chinese and struck an Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement for free cross-strait trade.
定期直行便を運航、中国からの観光客受け入れを解禁し、自由貿易圏を目指す経済協力枠組み協定を結んだ。

Ma, declaring his election victory while being pelted by a pouring rain, stressed that the expansion of Taiwan’s economic ties and trade with China during his first term had strong voter support.
He pledged to continue his China policy for the next four years.
　土砂降りの雨に打たれながら勝利を宣言した馬総統は、中国との経済、貿易が拡大したことが「支持された」と強調して、「今後４年間もこの政策を続けていく」と明言した。

Indeed, relations between China and Taiwan have been on a roll recently.
　確かに、このところの中台関係は活発だ。

Mainland tourists visiting Taiwan now outnumber Japanese visitors.
Chinese students are beginning to come to the island to study.
大陸からの観光客数は日本を上回り、留学生も来始めている。

The current state of the cross-strait relationship is a far cry from what it was 16 years ago when Beijing tried to intimidate Taiwan by test-firing missiles during a presidential election.
総統選の期間に中国がミサイル演習で威嚇した１６年前から想像できないほどだ。

Even so, China still keeps ballistic missiles aimed at Taiwan and is expanding its naval power around the island. 　しかし、台湾に照準を合わせた弾道ミサイルを中国は配備したままだし、台湾周辺での海軍力も増強している。

The current stability in Sino-Taiwanese relations is as fragile as a glass sculpture and far from what constitutes true peace.
中台関係の安定はガラス細工のようにもろく、真の平和にほど遠い。

That’s why there is still strong, deep-rooted wariness about unification among Taiwanese, as indicated by the fact that Ma’s poll ratings dropped immediately after he talked about a peace treaty with China during the election campaign.
　だから、馬総統が選挙戦で中国との平和協定を口にした途端に支持率が下がったように、統一に対する台湾の人々の警戒心はなお根強い。

The Communist Party of China and the government in Beijing issued an unusual statement following Ma’s re-election, expressing hope for “opening of a new phase of peaceful development of the relationship” and “striving together for a great resurgence of the Chinese race.”
The move clearly reflected China’s enthusiasm about starting political dialogue with Taiwan as a step toward eventual unification.
　中国共産党と政府は、馬氏再選が決まった後に「関係の平和的発展の新しい局面をさらに開き、中華民族の偉大な復興のために共に力を尽くすことを願っている」という異例の談話を発表し、統一を視野に入れた政治対話に意欲を示した。

But the Taiwanese people are not interested in such political dialogue.
　しかし、台湾の民意は政治対話をまだ望んでいない。

Ma needs to tread carefully on this issue.
馬氏は慎重に対応すべきである。

Beijing, if it really wants political dialogue with the island, should demonstrate its sincerity by taking steps to build a peaceful and favorable environment for cross-strait talks, such as removing the missiles aimed at Taiwan.
We sincerely hope the new Chinese leadership that will be elected in the party convention this autumn will make serious efforts to improve the diplomatic climate for political talks with Taiwan.
　中国も政治対話を望むのであれば、台湾向けのミサイルを廃棄するなどの誠意を示して、平和な環境を整える必要がある。秋の党大会で生まれる新しい指導部にそれを強く望みたい。

For her part, Tsai fared better than the DPP’s candidate for the previous presidential election in terms of the percentage of votes garnered against the total poll. But her failure to offer concrete proposals to tackle key policy issues, like the relationship with China, growing economic inequity among Taiwanese people and employment, was her undoing.
　蔡氏は前回の民進党候補より得票率を上げたが、対中関係や格差、雇用などの問題で具体的な対抗策を示すことはできなかった。

Nevertheless, we applaud Tsai for not inflaming tension during the election campaign, which often happened in the past. This gave the impression that democracy in Taiwan has matured.
とはいえ、過去のような対立をあおる選挙運動はせず、台湾の民主主義の成熟を印象づけたことは評価したい。

In mainland China, the people are still denied the right to vote in democratic elections. Yet, they showed tremendous interest in Taiwan’s election through Internet postings and other forms of online expression.
　民主的な選挙に縁のない中国の人々もネットなどで大きな関心を示した。

We hope they will learn more about democracy through Taiwan's experience.
台湾を通してさらに学ぶようになればいい。

Although Taiwan has no formal diplomatic relationship with Japan, Taiwanese sentiment toward Japan is very friendly. This can be seen by the size of Taiwan’s donation to help victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake. Its 17 billion yen (about $213 million) topped all other foreign donations.
　台湾は日本と外交関係はないが、東日本大震災で世界一の額の義援金１７０億円を寄せたように、極めて親日的である。

Japan must respond to the goodwill shown by the Taiwanese people by enhancing its ties with the island through steps like concluding a free trade agreement.
日本は自由貿易協定を結ぶなど関係の強化をはかり、台湾の善意にこたえなければならない。