Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators and party officials yesterday lashed out at KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
In a speech delivered at Harvard University, Ma proposed that Taiwan and China should restart talks under the so-called "1992 Consensus," sign a peace agreement including military confidence-building mechanisms, establish a cross-strait common market, extend Taiwan's participation in the international community and enhance cross-strait cultural and educational interactions.
But the DPP said that Ma's remarks were based on deception and wishful thinking.
"The `1992 consensus' is a term fabricated by KMT Legislator Su Chi (蘇起), and the international community will neither recognize nor support Ma's claim that `one China' means the Republic of China," DPP Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said.
"Has Ma ever asked the people of Taiwan what position and status he will use when negotiating with China? Has Ma ever made it clear whether Taiwan is a local government of China or an independent sovereign state?" she said.
Hsiao added that Ma ignored the fact that China has 800 missiles aimed at Taiwan, and instead champions increasing cross-strait interactions as well as Taiwan's dependence on China.
This demonstrated that he does not care about Taiwan's national security, she said.
"Ma should articulate the viewpoints in his statement and should not deceive voters with ambiguous and vacillating remarks," she added.
Meanwhile, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) yesterday said that seeking de jure independence for Taiwan is "impractical" because the Republic of China is already an independent country.
"Now that [Taiwan is] a sovereign state, it is a nation with de facto independence. For that matter, many people would think it is unrealistic [for Taiwan] to pursue de jure independence," Wang said.
Wang made the remarks when asked by reporters yesterday whether he agreed with Ma's comments in New York on Monday that the ROC has been an independent country since 1912, and that there was no need for the country to declare independence again.
Wang agreed, saying, "It is just the area under the national jurisdiction of the nation that has changed. Apart from that, the nation's independent status has remained the same."
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan
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