Beijing is nervous about Taiwan’s Jan. 16 presidential election because it recognizes that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) could win, a former US Department of State official said last week.
“Beijing is obviously nervous about the prospect of the victory of the DPP,” said Evans Revere, who served as principal US deputy assistant secretary and acting assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific Affairs before retiring from the department in 2007.
He made the comment in response to a question during an interview with the Central News Agency.
The latest polls show DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) leading in a three-person race against the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) candidate, Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), and People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), who on Thursday said he would enter the race.
Beijing has made it clear over the years that it has “fundamental disagreements” with the DPP, Revere said.
Tsai “has been very careful and very precise in her rhetoric and I am hoping that Beijing will listen very carefully to what she has said and what she has not said in this campaign,” he added.
During a 12-day trip to the US earlier this summer, Tsai said that, if elected president, she would continue to promote cross-strait peace and stability under the Constitution.
Irrespective of the outcome of the election, it would be “a victory for democracy in Taiwan,” Revere said.
He also said that he hoped Beijing would respect the voice of the Taiwanese and understand that there would be opportunities to build on the achievements made in cross-strait relations over the past few years.
“There will be a strong desire to maintain the accomplishments in cross-strait relations,” regardless of the outcome of the election, he said.
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