Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) China policy was a concern among panelists discussing the continuity of cross-strait peace at a Taipei forum yesterday.
While acknowledging that pledges made by Tsai to maintain the “status quo” and preserve peace should she win next year’s presidential election were “admirable goals,” American Institute in Taiwan board member David Brown said at a roundtable discussion that: “What she has not said is how she would be able to accomplish those goals.”
Brown said he and many in the US hoped Tsai would be able to provide additional clarity on those goals during her trip to Washington later this month.
Photo: AFP
Beijing has laid down a significant challenge for the DPP in that it must find a way to accommodate what China sees as its core interests — maintaining a “one China” model.
“The preferred way of doing that is through the [so-called] ‘1992 consensus,’ but if that’s not possible, please find a formula for doing it,” Brown said, referring to a supposed understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese government that both sides acknowledge there is “one China” but differ on what “one China” means, a notion which is rejected by the DPP.
Meanwhile, Brown commended KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) on his decision to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) 10 days ago in Beijing, which he said he initially thought “was unlikely to take place … because it was a very risky undertaking both in terms of cross-strait relations and [Chu’s] position in domestic politics here, but he went.”
“And going is an example of leadership, dealing with difficult issues, taking responsibility,” Brown told the forum, which was organized by the Mainland Affairs Council.
“The outcome of the meeting was modest, but it did show that it took place in a smooth fashion without difficulties,” he added.
Chu’s visit to China demonstrated that the KMT would stand for continuity in cross-strait relations, and should the party emerge victorious in the election, “that would be very reassuring to China, to the US and others,” Brown said.
Brown said he was surprised that when Chu met with Xi, the KMT leader did not come away with something deliverable he could bring back to the people of Taiwan.
“I think Beijing needs to give considerable thought to things it can do to help the KMT [in the election], if that’s its goal,” he said.
Earlier yesterday, while moderating a session on cross-strait relations and national security, Brown posed a question to You Ji (由冀), a professor of international relations at the University of Macau’s Department of Government and Public Administration, on whether military elements would be involved in Beijing’s reaction to Taiwanese choosing a president who does not support the “1992 consensus.”
You said China had termed the circumstances under which former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) of the DPP planned to write a new constitution during his term as a “sub-war state.”
Yesterday’s forum began with a speech by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who again reiterated the importance of adhering to the “1992 consensus.”
Separately yesterday, Ma described the relationship between Taiwan and China as one that “after a long period of division, tends to unite; after a long period of union, to divide (分久必合，合久必分), a line drawn from the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三國演義).
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a historical Chinese novel mixing fact with fiction dealing with the Three Kingdoms period (220-280 CE).
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