President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday pressed Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to elucidate the “status quo” she said she wishes to maintain, saying a presidential candidate cannot be unrealistic and elusive on the matter.
Speaking at a Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) exhibition on the history of cross-strait exchanges, Ma took issue with the DPP and Tsai in the wake of DPP accusations that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu’s (朱立倫) recent visit to China and his policy have catered to Beijing.
Ma said that former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) “one side, one country” tenet exacerbated cross-strait tensions and harmed the mutual trust between Taiwan and the US, adding that “the cross-strait ‘status quo’ we have now is peaceful and prosperous development.”
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
“Tsai said she wants the ‘status quo’ to be maintained, but everyone knows that the public wants the ‘status quo’ to be maintained, as it has more than 70 percent of support in the poll. The question is which ‘status quo’ does the public want? The one we have now? Or the one we had seven years ago?” Ma said.
Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) had signed a meeting document in 1992 — which is on display in the exhibition — that endorsed the view that “there is one China with each side having its own interpretation of what China means,” or the so-called “1992 consensus,” Ma said.
“Tsai also stated at a legislative question-and-answer session in 2000 as then-Mainland Affairs Council head that each of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait has its own interpretation for the ‘one China’ controversy,” he said.
In related news, the KMT caucus said that while Chu has stuck to the “1992 consensus,” Tsai is “pursuing a ‘one China’ in the future.”
KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) said he had found news reports dated August 2000 that reported then-MAC leader Tsai as saying that due to the affinity in culture and economics between Taiwan and China, “there is only one option for the Taiwanese people in the future, which is ‘one China in the future,’ or constructing a meaningful political relationship with the mainland in the next five to 10 years.”
Tsai should “apologize to those strongly advocating Taiwan’s formal independence in the DPP, to former president Chen’s ‘one side, one country’ tenet and to the DPP’s ‘Resolution on Taiwan’s Future,’” Wu said.
Meanwhile, DPP spokesperson Wang Min-sheng (王閔生) said the party has already clearly explained its cross-strait policy, and urged the KMT to stop manipulating the cross-strait issue for election gains.
“What [the DPP] means by ‘maintaining the status quo’ refers to maintaining the peaceful and stable development of relations across the Taiwan Strait. We have clarified it on various occasions before and the stance has received support from more than 70 percent of the public,” Wang told a brief afternoon news conference at the party’s headquarters in Taipei.
“We would like to urge the KMT to seriously face doubts from the public, respond positively to them and stop avoiding answering questions from the public,” Wang added.
Wang said that he felt sorry for a political party and a president who have been in power for seven years and “only play the cross-strait card day after day” because they do not have any accomplishments to show; they are no longer able to claim that they are “clean” and they are no longer a united party.
“Cross-strait relations is an important issue for the country; it should not become a topic or tool for political manipulation for election gains,” Wang said. “The KMT should stop doing such a thing that is not benefiting the nation and could be harmful to the public.”
SHIPS, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: The ministry has announced changes to varied transportation industries taking effect soon, with a number of effects for passengers Beginning next month, the post office is canceling signature upon delivery and written inquiry services for international registered small packets in accordance with the new policy of the Universal Postal Union, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The new policy does not apply to packets that are to be delivered to China, the ministry said. Senders of international registered small packets would receive a NT$10 rebate on postage if the packets are sent from Jan. 1 to March 31, it added. The ministry said that three other policies are also scheduled to take effect next month. International cruise ship operators
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
PLANNED: The suspect visited the crime scene before the killings, seeking information on how to access the roof, and had extensively researched a 2014 stabbing incident The suspect in a stabbing attack that killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei on Friday had planned the assault and set fires at other locations earlier in the day, law enforcement officials said yesterday. National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Chang Jung-hsin (張榮興) said the suspect, a 27-year-old man named Chang Wen (張文), began the attacks at 3:40pm, first setting off smoke bombs on a road, damaging cars and motorbikes. Earlier, Chang Wen set fire to a rental room where he was staying on Gongyuan Road in Zhongzheng District (中正), Chang Jung-hsin said. The suspect later threw smoke grenades near two exits
The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday launched a gift box to market honey “certified by a Formosan black bear” in appreciation of a beekeeper’s amicable interaction with a honey-thieving bear. Beekeeper Chih Ming-chen (池明鎮) in January inspected his bee farm in Hualien County’s Jhuosi Township (卓溪) and found that more than 20 beehives had been destroyed and many hives were eaten, with bear droppings and paw prints near the destroyed hives, the agency said. Chih returned to the farm to move the remaining beehives away that evening when he encountered a Formosan black bear only 20m away, the agency said. The bear
RSS