原文：
The Importance of Tact
Ma Ying-jeou
PRESIDENT OF TAIWAN
The recent global downturn has darkened economic forecasts around the world, but in Taiwan, it nearly blotted out the sun. Last February, The Economist called the country\'s financial forecast "the ugliest of them all." Producing about 70 percent of the world\'s laptops and PDAs and 12 percent of its cell phones, Taiwan relies on the West to buy its high-tech gadgets. Unfortunately, Americans haven\'t been spending a lot of time at Best Buy lately. In the past few months, however, Taiwan’s prospects have started to look rosier, thanks in large part to the country’s new president, Ma Ying-jeou. How is he saving the country? By being the world\'s best marriage counselor.
TAIWAN AND CHINA -- THE AWKWARD COUPLE
Technically speaking, Taiwan is a part of China, but in reality, they are two separate countries with two separate identities. And, until recently, they rarely talked to each other. Although he was successful in driving out the Japanese during World War II, General Chiang Kai-shek lost the Chinese Civil War to the internal communist forces in 1949. He then fled to Taiwan, a Chinese island 100 miles off the coast. Vowing to reclaim the mainland, Chiang Kai-shek and his band of nationalists set up a military dictatorship in Taiwan, and the island remained in a state of perpetual (if stable) martial law until 1987. For nearly half a century, capitalist Taiwan (the Republic of China) and communist China (the People\'s Republic of China) had virtually no diplomatic relations, and travel between the two countries was strictly forbidden. The nations had separated but refused to reconcile or get divorced. After all, reconciliation would mean one nation giving in to the other, and divorce would lead to all-out war. Even now, China has hundreds of missiles pointed at Taiwan, which they threaten to launch should Taiwan declare independence. In case you were wondering how this affects the United States, the American government has sworn to protect Taiwan in the event of an invasion. If they go to war, we would probably go along with them.
Months before his death in 1988, Taiwan’s last dictator, Chiang Kai-shek’s son Chiang Ching-Kuo, allowed the nation to become a democracy. It was at this time that Ma Ying-jeou, the future president, first made his mark on the international scene.
Ma came from one of the families that had followed General Chiang Kai-shek to Taiwan, and Ma’s father had decided that his only son’s life would have national purpose. The expectations were great. Ma was forced to study Chinese classics after school every day, and he was pressured to perfect his calligraphy. Ma’s father also made him run daily to rid him of any laziness.
While Ma hated every minute of it, the experience did instill a certain discipline. He obtained a law degree from NYU and a doctorate from Harvard before returning to Taiwan to teach. There, at age 37, Ma became the former dictator’s protégé. The two shared a deeply held desire to reunite China and Taiwan under the banner of democracy.
Ma knew that the first step was getting the two nations on speaking terms again. Using his legal expertise, he drafted what would become known as the “1992 Consensus,” a masterpiece of diplomatic ambiguity. It declared there to be only “one China,” but let both countries interpret the phrase however the pleased. The flexible agreement opened up a dialogue with China that led to increased commerce between the two nations. It also helped Ma gain a reputation as a savvy politician, which, along with his general handsomeness, got him elected mayor of Taipei in 1998. (In a poll of Taipei women, asking which public figure they would most like to father their children, Ma was the resounding winner.)
Yet, mending fences with China would not prove simple. Ever since Taiwan became a democracy in 1987, there has been a sizable political movement to break away entirely. After all, Taiwan is an open society that believes in free speech and civil liberties. China, in spite of all its economic gains, is still rife with human rights violations, from Hong Kong to Tibet.
In 2000, Taiwan elected a pro-independence president, Chen Shui-bian, and diplomacy with China took a nosedive. Both countries began saber-rattling and imposing financial restrictions on one another. Their relationship took a turn for the ridiculous in 2005, when China offered Taiwan a goodwill gift of two pandas named Tuantuan and Yuanyuan—a play of the Chinese word for reunion. Taiwan officially rejected them. As trade between the two countries waned, Taiwan’s economy grew sluggish. Taiwan’s ties with the United States also became strained because the American government didn’t want to be dragged into a conflict with China.
REUNITED, AND IT FEELS SO GOOD
For years, Taiwan and China weren’t talking; today, they’re giving each other pandas.
On March 22, 2008, Ma Ying-jeou was elected president of Taiwan by a wide margin, after campaigning on the idea of a “Great China market.” Modeled after the European Union, it would allow the free movement of goods and capital and encourage tourism between nations. In his inauguration speech, Ma reaffirmed his belief in the fantastically vague concept of “one China,” and Taiwan’s relationship with China improved almost immediately. Ma was able to sign a series of agreements that increased trade and investment across the Taiwan Strait, opening up vital parts of Taiwan’s service and manufacturing sectors to Chinese investors. Even more dramatically, Ma passed legislation to make air travel between the nations possible. On July 4, 2008, a commercial airplane brought passengers directly from China to Taiwan for the first time in nearly 60 years. Now, about 3,000 Chinese tourists arrive to invade Taipei’s shopping malls each day. Also, when China offered Taiwan the pandas Tuantuan and Yuanyuan again, President Ma gladly accepted them.
Improved relations with China have also translated into improved relations with the United States. Now that china and Taiwan aren’t belligerent towards each other, Westerners are again seeing Taiwan as a safe place to invest their money. Unfortunately, ma assumed office just as his country began to feel the effects of the global economic downturn. (In the first quarter of 2009, Taiwan’s economy shrank by a record 10.2 percent from a year earlier.) But many economists believe that, with money pouring in from both China and the United States, Taiwan may be on the road to recovery. Will Ma’s dream come true? Will China and Taiwan every reunite under the banner of democracy? Many foreign affairs experts would tell Ma to keep dreaming. But 25 years ago, these two countries weren’t talking at all; and today, they’re giving each other pandas. Anything is possible.
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中央社的犀牛皮：
馬總統列全球五大最具膽識領袖
2009/9/6 上午 10:48:00
[中央社記者李佳霏台北6日電] 發行全美雜誌「mental_floss」最新一期報導，將總統馬英九列為全球五大最具膽識領袖；台灣面對全球金融海嘯衝擊，因馬總統的機智及改善兩岸關係，使經濟前景變好。
與馬總統並列為五大全球最具膽識領袖的還有德國總理梅克爾（Angela Merkel）、烏干達總統穆塞維尼（Yoweri Museveni）、巴西總統魯拉（Luis InacioLula da Silva）與智利總統巴舍萊（MichelleBachelet）。
報導以「機智的重要－台灣總統馬英九」為標題，以兩頁篇幅介紹馬總統。導言強調，近年全球經濟不景氣，對台灣衝擊甚深，「連太陽都被遮蔽了」，但台灣最近幾個月來經濟前景變好，最大的因素就在於馬總統。
報導用有趣的方式比喻兩岸關係，認為兩岸關係就像夫妻一樣，這對夫妻不願和解卻無法離婚，台灣和中國沒有人願意低頭接受對方的和解條件，而離婚的結果卻會導致戰爭；報導形容馬總統上任後大幅改善兩岸關係，就像是「全球最佳的婚姻顧問」。
報導簡要敘述馬總統的成長歷程，包括馬總統父親教誨嚴格，從小飽讀中國古籍、勤練書法，並擁有美國紐約大學法律碩士、美國哈佛大學法律博士學位，學成歸國便成為故總統蔣經國的秘書。
報導說，2000年至2008年民進黨執政時期，兩岸關係惡化，台美關係也變差，但馬總統上任後，兩岸關係幾乎是「馬上變好」，相關例證包括兩岸復談及簽署多項協議、開放中資來台、實現兩岸直航與全面開放大陸觀光客來台等措施。
報導並指出，台灣要在短時間中與對岸彌補關係，不是這麼簡單，但憑藉馬總統的機智，兩岸不僅成功降低敵意，也重建台美互信，外資更認為台灣投資環境趨向安全，因此，儘管馬總統上台後不久就遇到全球經濟衰退，但因為兩岸關係的發展，台灣現在走向經濟復甦道路。
「mental_floss」雜誌是雙月刊，屬於綜合性雜誌，善於用簡單的表述方式讓讀者掌握政治、財經、健康等各領域的全球性議題。
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