Lien greets US delegation, blasts DPP administration

KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) yesterday said that cross-strait relations could see a breakthrough if the DPP administration were to return to the "1992 consensus," which posits that there is "one China, with each side having its own interpretation."

Because the DPP administration has incorrectly equated the consensus to "one country, two systems," relations between Taiwan and China continue to remain stagnant, said KMT party spokesman Justine Chou (周守訓), recounting Lien's remarks made during his talk with a US National Committee on American Foreign Policy (NCAPP) delegation.

"Since Taiwan clearly will not accept the `one country, two systems' model and become another Hong Kong, the DPP administration, by incorrectly interpreting the `one country, two systems' within the `1992 consensus,' therefore has obscured the interpretation of the consensus, leading to stagnant cross-strait relations," Chou quoted Lien as saying.

Lien made the remarks during the delegation's visit to the KMT headquarters, Chou said.

According to Chou, Lien said the DPP administration should return to the "one China" consensus to resume the long-stalled cross-strait dialogue with Chinese leaders on technical affairs, with political issues being temporarily shelved.

Speaking with the delegation on Taiwan's economic situation, Lien said that the greater economic concern facing Taiwan now is not that of issues related to direct postal and transportation links with China but the ruling administration's economic policy.

"The ruling administration's ambiguous economic policies and its shifting attitude with regard to those [polices] are what, in part, has contributed to Taiwan's current sluggish economy," Lien said. "It is due to the aforementioned reasons that people lack the confidence and interest to invest [in Taiwan.]"

Instead of harboring a passive attitude and blaming the nation's economic troubles on a "black-hole" -- referring to the magnetic pull of China's economy -- Lien urged the ruling administration to take on proactive and innovative measures to revive Taiwan's economic state.

According to Chou, the delegation, having just concluded a visit to China, told Lien that it has learned that China was willing to talk about its missile deployment.

An estimated 400 missiles aimed at Taiwan are deployed along China's southeastern coast.

In response to the information, Lien said that if China is really sincere about wanting to ameliorate its relations with Taiwan, China should sit down with Taiwan face to face and speak with Taiwan directly instead of having a third party such as the US be the message-carrier.