Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) yesterday said he would not run for president in 2020 as he reaffirmed President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) performance and ability to re-elected.
In a radio interview, Lai, a member of the Democratic Progressive Party, said he would not join the next presidential election, denying Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) description of him as a likely candidate.
Ko’s comments were straightforward, but unfounded and there has been no discussion between us about the next presidential election, Lai said.
Lai said he would not join the Cabinet without seeing two major construction projects in his city finished: The reconstruction of the Weiguan Jinlong Complex, which collapsed in February last year during a major earthquake, and an underground railway project.
Although the first seven months of Tsai’s presidency have been “stumbling,” Lai said the public should be reassured over her performance.
He said that public faith in Tsai could be restored if the government could carry out pension reform successfully.
In terms of domestic policy, the controversies associated with labor law amendments and the government’s handling of a China Airlines staff strike suggested that the Cabinet was still in a “fine-tuning process,” but it is expected to be “a different one” after the Lunar New Year holiday, he said.
Lai said that he would call China by that name, not “the mainland” if he were president.
Lai said the term “mainland” represents a misconception about cross-strait relations and “it is absolutely wrong that people in China have adopted the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] terminology in their understanding of Taiwan.”
Taiwanese understand that the so-called “1992 consensus” is a deception and there is no “one China, different interpretations,” because what China espouses is “one China, no interpretation,” he said.
“The ‘different interpretations’ of ‘one China, different interpretations’ framework advocated by former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and former vice president Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) is a lie to Taiwanese,” he said.
“Taiwan is 100 percent a nation,” Lai said.
The “1992 consensus” — a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted to making up in 2000 — refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what that means.
Asked if he supports Tsai’s cross-strait policy on maintaining the “status quo,” Lai said the nation has to keep it without compromising.
Taiwan cannot expect any friendly feedback from China by making concessions, as former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) made a U-turn in his attitude toward China without seeing any softening in Beijing’s stance, while Ma was unable to keep his campaign promises to revitalize the economy, also because of China’s uncompromising attitude.
It is not up to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to change Beijing’s attitude, because Chinese society has not reached a point where its leadership is allowed to compromise, Lai said.
It is imperative to let Chinese understand that it is Taiwan that has contributed most to China’s economic growth over the past 20 years and an advanced Taiwan can still play an important role in China’s development, he said.
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