The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday urged the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to maintain Taiwan’s dignity in its dealings with China.
“So far, the KMT has been dealing with China through a party-to-party mechanism. But when it becomes the ruling party, communications with China should proceed on a country to country basis,” DPP legislative caucus whip William Lai (賴清德) said during a press conference yesterday morning.
Lai said the KMT’s establishment of communications with China on a party-to-party basis was understandable, but that the relationship should be elevated after the KMT takes power, or it will humiliate Taiwan and its people.
“In addition to the dignity issue, party-to-party contacts would also jeopardize Taiwan’s national interests, about which we cannot be careful enough,” Lai said. “Also, all communications with China should be made public, so people will know what the government has been working on.”
Lai also said that president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had broken a campaign promise by admitting that it would be impossible for Taiwan’s economic growth rate to exceed 6 percent this year.
“This is deception and he owes his supporters an apology,” Lai said. “No matter what, I think [Ma] should at least give it a shot, instead of giving up before he has even started.”
DPP Legislator Wang Sing-nan (王幸男) said the GDP growth rate was 6.15 percent in 2004 and 5.7 percent last year. But he said Ma still criticized the DPP and said the party had mismanaged the economy. If growth failed to reach 6 percent as he promised, he will owe an apology to his supporters and the DPP, he said.
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