Taiwan should abandon its “hallucinations” about independence, as any push toward that outcome would be “poison,” Chinese state-run media said, following the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) landslide win in Saturday’s presidential and legislative elections.
DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) won 56 percent of the vote to sweep aside her main rival, Chinese Nationlist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫).
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office on Saturday said that Beijing’s policy toward Taiwan would not change because of the election results and that it would continue its adherence to the so-called “1992 consensus” and its opposition to Taiwan independence.
The “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted making up in 2000, refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese government that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Xinhua news agency said any move toward independence would act like “poison” and cause Taiwan to perish.
“If there is no peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, Taiwan’s new authority will find the sufferings of the people it wishes to resolve on the economy, livelihood and its youth will be as useless as looking for fish in a tree,” it said.
The Global Times, published by the Chinese Communist Party’s official People’s Daily newspaper, said in an op-ed that if Tsai’s administration sought to “cross the red line” the way that former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) did, Taiwan would “meet a dead end.”
“We hope Tsai can lead the DPP out of the hallucinations of Taiwanese independence, and contribute to the peaceful and common development between Taiwan and the mainland,” it added.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that matters relating to Taiwan were an internal matter for China.
“There is only ‘one China’ in the world, the mainland and Taiwan both belong to one China, and China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity will not brook being broken up,” the ministry said.
In Taipei, the Mainland Affairs Council called on China to respect the results of the presidential and legislative elections.
The elections demonstrate the mature development of Taiwan’s democracy, the council said in a press release on Saturday night, adding that all sectors in Taiwan and China should respect the choices of Taiwanese voters and its democratic system, and continue to promote the peaceful and stable development of cross-strait relations.
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