The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and China should understand that Taiwanese deserve more than one option when determining their future, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday.
“Both sides of the Taiwan Strait should think about how to discuss the future by establishing a platform on a shared basis,” the DPP presidential candidate said in defense of her China policy, which has been questioned by the KMT as well as some DPP members, and is seen by some supporters as “ambiguous.”
Her campaign office and the DPP have devoted a lot of time and effort to explain her China policy to the public, she said.
“Those who described it as ‘hollow’ and ‘ambiguous’ are the people who insist on conventional deliberation,” she said.
Tsai unveiled the central theme of her China policy in late February, using the Chinese phrase he er butong, he er qiu tong (和而不同, 和而求同), which translates as “reserving the right to disagree in seeking harmony, seeking agreement in a spirit of conciliation.”
However, the campaign office of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who is seeking re-election in January, urged Tsai to “clarify” her views further.
The policy sounds ambiguous to the KMT because the party has “refused to deliberate on or accept different views [about Taiwan’s China policy],” Tsai said, adding that the KMT and China both limit Taiwanese to one option when determining Taiwan’s future.
For example, Ma and China both say that there would be no further development of cross-strait relations without recognition of the so-called “1992 consensus.”
“Does it exist in the first place? If you want people to recognize something that does not even exist, you have to at least come up with something that makes sense and is understandable,” she said.
The biggest problem for the KMT, she said, is that “the party refuses to accept that people have the right to hold different opinions and values and refuses to accept the fact that half of the population holds different views [on cross-strait -relations] from the party.”
China also needs to understand that Taiwanese have different expectations of cross-strait relations than the Chinese, she said.
Tsai highlighted “peace” and “stability” as the essential goals of her China policy and urged people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to “think about what the best direction for cross-strait engagement would be to benefit both sides.”
The press conference was the first of four press conferences planned to unveil the DPP’s 10-year policy guidelines, which cover a wide range of issues. Tsai is expected to discuss her China policy in detail in one of three remaining press conferences.
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