Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) called for a “cross-strait peace agreement” in an interview with the Hong Kong-based China Review News Agency published on Monday, and yesterday repeated the call to “properly situate cross-strait political status.”
Hung, who on Monday registered to participate in the KMT presidential primary, on Facebook yesterday said she decided to contest the primary to “establish a correct path for the Republic of China and the KMT.”
Saying that the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) political ideas are “destined to bring tension and crisis across the Taiwan Strait and deprive Taiwanese of dignity by making Taiwan uncompetitive,” Hung said she endorses carrying out political talks with Beijing, “signing a cross-strait peace agreement on an equal footing and based on dignity” and “establishing a cross-strait military mutual-trust mechanism.”
Hung was less reserved in the China Review News Agency interview.
“How long can the 1992 consensus hold if it stays where it is now? Are you to maintain the status quo forever?” she was quoted as saying.
A cross-strait peace deal and military mutual-trust mechanism, according to Hung, are the next step. With them, “we can let our guard down and move forward.”
China’s M503 commercial flight route — unilaterally established by Beijing — was described by Hung as “something that could give Taiwan more safety and protection,” as it is “a route for international civil, rather than military, aviation.”
“It would be even better to have more civil air routes between us so that [the Chinese military] could not easily approach us,” she said. “It is such nonsense to say that it has damaged our national dignity.”
Regarding a recent controversy related to China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Hung dismissed concerns that Taiwan would be slighted by the name under which it joins the bank.
“Either you have your dignity and full national name, or be marginalized. Which one do you want?” she said.
“It cannot be denied that China is a rising power and that it will replace the US to become the biggest economy by 2025. [Taiwanese] are of the same race and write the same words [as China.] Why do we not take the opportunity to stand on the giant’s shoulder?” she added.
President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration is seeking to join an Indo-Pacific economic framework being planned by the US, a senior official said. The government is paying close attention to the regional economic pact being touted by US President Joe Biden, although too few details have emerged from Washington for Taipei to make specific plans, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The US is expected to launch the Indo-Pacific economic framework next month after negotiations with Australia, India and Japan, the official said. The economic initiative is to tackle trade facilitation, standards for the digital economy and technology, supply-chain resiliency and
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