In response to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) return to power early last year, Beijing instructed its Taiwan affairs-related departments to increase efforts to draw the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to China’s side and to boycott and undermine the DPP government. However, Beijing’s “united front” tactics of “divide and rule” did not go well, because its expected agent lost the position of KMT chair.
KMT Chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) had on numerous occasions questioned former KMT chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu’s (洪秀柱) proposal to sign a cross-strait peace agreement. Immediately before he took office on Sunday, Wu simply abolished the “new policy platform covering cross-strait peace” initiated by Hung in September last year and stressed the so-called “1992 consensus,” saying that both sides of the Taiwan Strait should adhere to the “‘one China principle,’ with both sides agreeing to make their own interpretation of what that means in oral form,” drawing a line between his framework and Hung’s “one China, same interpretation” framework.
The pro-Beijing media have criticized Wu, saying that he is attempting to localize the KMT and the Republic of China and that the KMT faction sympathetic to Taiwan is actually implementing Taiwanese independence under the guise of Wu’s framework.
Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Yu Zhengsheng (俞正聲) has warned that any attempt to change the “1992 consensus” and the opposition to Taiwanese independence is unacceptable.
Yu has also said that any attempts to sneak “Taiwanese independence” in through the back door will fail.
Wu said in an interview with Asiaweek on June 2 that he was firmly opposed to Taiwanese independence and would not adopt the “two Chinas” or “one China, one Taiwan” frameworks, in a bid to win the trust of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and to express his intention to hold a face-to-face meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).
The KMT’s current strategy is to prioritize winning next year’s local elections. However, if it is to make a comeback in Taiwan, the most important thing will be to get the support and votes of Taiwanese, not merely seeking Xi’s approval. Attempting to win the elections by eliciting the CCP’s help would, for Wu, be something of a Faustian bargain and will not end well.
There are those among the KMT’s old guard who were more than happy to be Beijing’s subordinates and its agents in annexing Taiwan, even though that is against the will and interests of the Taiwanese public, which led to the KMT’s fall from power. A clear example is former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) submission to Beijing, which led to the KMT’s drubbing in the local and national elections in 2014 and last year.
Following three transitions of power, the nation’s democracy is maturing. Voters are happy to see mature and rational party politics, and would react positively to the KMT becoming a Taiwan-oriented party that forms new ideas and proposes policies that meet the needs of the public. For that, they would be willing to give their support at the ballot box.
The Wu-led KMT will no longer repeat its “one China” tradition — because an increasing number of people identify with Taiwan and they will not support a party that sees China as its motherland or suzerain, nor will they support a bloc that subordinates itself to the CCP regime.
Parris Chang is a former deputy secretary-general of the National Security Council.
Translated by Lin Lee-kai
A recent report concerning a student who is suing his teacher posed the question in its headline: Does failing a student in two subjects constitute bullying? The college student in Chiayi County apparently sought NT$2 million (US$63,603) in state compensation, but a court dismissed the case. The first reaction of many might have been to ask: What has happened to students nowadays? Some say that teachers have lost their authority, while others say students are overindulged. Some even start reminiscing over the days when “whatever the teacher says goes.” However, the real issue might be overlooked if emotional reactions like that are the
When I visited Taiwan last summer, I called on the nation to use its status as a technology superpower to build superweapons. It is obvious to me as I return a year later that Taiwan is now answering that call. By 2030, Taiwan envisions a domestic drone hub, capable of producing large quantities of drones per year. The nation continues to tighten cooperation across the private sector, scientific researchers and the elected government, on creating new and innovative production avenues for defense, while efforts to become central to the “democratic supply chain” are only increasing. Anduril is seeing all of these positive
Singaporean former Prime Minister and current senior minister Lee Hsien- Loong(李顯龍) last month stood on Chinese soil and told Beijing that Singapore cooperates because of “shared interests”, not because of common “ethnic descent,” a significant statement that has upended China’s cognitive warfare tactics of “ethnic nationalism.” Along with using its military buildup and economic growth to expand its international dominance, China has long deployed ethnic politics to promote the idea that all ethnic Chinese around the world, regardless of citizenship, share a tight bond with the Chinese motherland, by which it means the regime of the People’s Republic of China (PRC)
Taiwan’s economic momentum, driven by demand for artificial intelligence (AI) products, remains strong, with booming demand for advanced semiconductors, servers and key components. In the first quarter, GDP expanded 14.55 percent year-on-year, the second consecutive quarter of double-digit percentage growth and accelerating from the 12.95 percent expansion in the previous quarter, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) reported on Friday. Net exports remained the dominant driver of growth, contributing 10.33 percentage points to Taiwan’s GDP growth in the first quarter. That came as exports rose 35.76 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, outpacing 26.34 percent growth in imports, the
RSS