If elected president, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (
In his opening remarks at a reception for foreign reporters in Taipei yesterday, Hsieh said that he believes that cross-strait relations will not be changed by policies but by changing the "attitude" that Taiwan and China have about each other.
"And my attitude is clear ... I do believe [Taiwan's] peaceful coexistence with China will contribute to peace in Asia Pacific region," Hsieh said in English. "It is conductive to cross-strait development."
Dialogue
"If I can be elected to be president, I will do whatever it takes to push forward cross-strait dialogue and negotiation," he said. "I will do my best to create mutual interests and mutual trust."
When asked how he would put a dialogue with China into place, Hsieh said he would seek to establish a "consensus" with China in terms of "procedure" and "time." He did not elaborate.
When asked for his opinion on Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) comments earlier yesterday that Ma would restore dialogue with China based on the "1992 consensus," Hsieh said he did not think it was important if such a consensus existed.
"The point is whether both sides believe it is important to conduct negotiations. If we do, we can negotiate with each other even without the `consensus,'" he said.
Hsieh said he is willing to assume China is a "rational" and "predictable" country and believes China would be receptive to him as the Taiwanese president.
When asked if he was competing with Ma to see who had more accommodating cross-strait policies, Hsieh disagreed, saying that this was a competition for "who can better safeguard Taiwan's interests."
He said he hoped China understands that Taiwan will not stand in China's path in its drive to become an international superpower.
When asked for his view on allowing Chinese investors to invest or buy property in Taiwan, Hsieh said he held a liberal opinion on the issue, adding that the government would work out restrictions when necessary.
When asked about his vision for US-Taiwan and Taiwan-Japan relations, Hsieh said his goal would be to build up "common strategic interests" with the US and Japan, adding that he hoped to sign an agreement with Japan similar to the Taiwan Relations Act Taiwan has with the US.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
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