For example, the KMT said the reason it blocked the arms procurement bill in the legislature is because they regard China's military deployment as not being targeted at all the Taiwanese, but just at a few pro-independence elements on the island. Such reasoning is exactly the same as China's. Even when China passed the Anti-Secession Law last year, which triggered strong condemnation around the world, the KMT's then chairman Lien Chan still insisted on visiting China. These moves have greatly hurt Taiwan.
TT: What is the DPP's strategy to cope with the cross-strait stalemate, given that China will not give up its "one China" principle as a precondition to enter into dialogue with Taipei?
Wu: There have been a few initiatives taking place across the Strait, such as the government's plan to allow Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan. We're now waiting for China to designate an agent in Taiwan to be the proxy for negotiating details on behalf of the Taiwanese authorities. But so far there's been no concrete results or response from China. The DPP government's policy has been that Taiwan is already an independent country, with the Republic of China as its national name. Most countries in the world accept Taiwan's de facto independence ... Taiwan independence is already a fact, and we have made it clear that we won't push for de jure independence. And we won't rule out any possibilities of relations with China in the future, as long as democratic principles are upheld. In the remaining two years or so, we'll continue to work on improving cross-strait relations, boosting domestic public opinion and international policy campaigns. And if China keeps rejecting our initiatives and goodwill, then we'll let it be.
TT: What do you think of the change of Ma's policy tone from pushing for "ultimate unification" to mentioning independence as a choice for Taiwan?
Wu: I think such flip-flops obviously reveal that Ma on the one hand wants to explain the KMT's position, but on the other hand, he also wanted to speak for the Taiwanese people. I think what he said [about the independence option] doesn't represent the KMT platform.
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