As Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) prepares to traverse what she has called the “last mile” to the party’s march back to power next year, there is a general perception that the same “last mile” upon which she faltered in the 2012 presidential election will remain her Achilles’ heel in the next presidential election — the party’s cross-strait policy.
A spate of criticism, much of it from China and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), has been leveled at Tsai, after she emphasized the sovereignty issue as she registered for the DPP’s presidential primary by saying that “consolidating state sovereignty” would be the party’s “most pressing priority” and describing the priority as “the specific point that distinguishes the DPP from the KMT” in terms of managing cross-strait relations.
Tsai also said that the DPP would draft its cross-strait policy based on “a new political culture” characterized by “openness and transparency, public participation and clean government” and that it would focus on “maintaining peaceful and stable development of cross-strait relations.”
Those comments were a clear response to the array of public concerns, which emerged alongside the Sunflower movement in March and April last year, about the direction in which President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration has been steering cross-strait relations.
In comparison, China and the KMT continue to view cross-strait issues through their own narrow lenses, ignoring the public’s viewpoint, as evidenced by an editorial in the Global Times, which is linked to the Chinese Communist Party’s mouthpiece the People’s Daily, on Monday last week and remarks made by former National Security Council secretary-general Su Chi (蘇起) the same day, both in response to the statement Tsai delivered the previous day.
The editorial and Su struck a similar tone, warning of the repercussions if Beijing dislikes the DPP’s cross-strait policy and suggesting that the DPP’s return to power would only add to the unpredictability of cross-strait ties.
Then KMT spokesperson Charles Chen (陳以信) challenged Tsai over her remarks about sovereignty, saying that since Tsai had not specified the Republic of China, she should clarify which nation’s sovereignty she was pledging to protect and which nation’s presidency she is seeking.
While Tsai’s rejection of the so-called “1992 consensus” was one of the crucial factors that led to her 2012 defeat, the public perception today of the extent to which the nation has grown dependent on China under the “one China” principle is different from before.
The growing animosity toward China, in part stemming from the anxiety that the nation is forfeiting its ability to act independently of Beijing’s influence in the face of China’s rise and closer cross-strait ties, is a mixed blessing.
There is an increasing public awareness on the levels and scale of China factors that are affecting Taiwan, even as the confidence the public and the nation require to engage with China is fading.
The DPP is ahead of the KMT in answering the public’s call for cross-strait negotiations to be transparent and subject to the monitoring of the legislature and society. However, to institutionalize the oversight mechanism and boost the nation’s leverage in negotiations with China will require cooperation among parties across the political spectrum.
It is time for the KMT to turn its back on Beijing’s manipulations and be on the same side as Taiwanese.
Recently, China launched another diplomatic offensive against Taiwan, improperly linking its “one China principle” with UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 to constrain Taiwan’s diplomatic space. After Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13, China persuaded Nauru to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Nauru cited Resolution 2758 in its declaration of the diplomatic break. Subsequently, during the WHO Executive Board meeting that month, Beijing rallied countries including Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Belarus, Egypt, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Laos, Russia, Syria and Pakistan to reiterate the “one China principle” in their statements, and assert that “Resolution 2758 has settled the status of Taiwan” to hinder Taiwan’s
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