The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday traded barbs over DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) proposed “Taiwan consensus,” with the DPP saying it would provide a strong foundation for cross-strait talks, while the KMT dismissed the idea as “mere rhetoric.”
Tsai, the DPP’s presidential candidate, during the first leg of her current US visit on Wednesday, renewed her commitment to seek a consensus among Taiwanese through a democratic process, which would be used as the basis for negotiations with China.
Accusing the KMT administration of fabricating the so-called “1992 consensus,” which she said was too fragile to serve as a foundation for China and Taiwan to build a long-term relationship, Tsai said that after a “Taiwan consensus” was formed via a democratic mechanism, a legal foundation could be built via legislation.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), seeking re-election, yesterday challenged Tsai to define the meaning of “Taiwan consensus.”
“We should at least know what it is before discussing the possibility of legalization. So far, no one knows the context of [Taiwan consensus], and I am afraid that we need to wait for an explanation before we know whether it can be legislated,” Ma said.
King Pu-tsung (金溥聰), executive director of Ma’s re-election campaign office, joined Ma in criticizing Tsai’s cross-strait platform, challenging Tsai to elaborate on how such a consensus could be formulated through a democratic process.
King, currently in the US to seek support for Ma from US-based Taiwanese voters, described Tsai’s idea of a “Taiwan consensus” as “mere rhetoric,” and said that on cross-strait relations, the public consensus is to maintain the ‘status quo,’ which is Ma’s “three-noes policy: no unification, no independence and no use of force.”
“Tsai and the DPP has been obsessed with the ‘1992 consensus’ issue, and ignored our achievements in cross-strait developments over the past years. Tsai’s ‘Taiwan consensus’ lacks solid content and political implications. It’s nothing but slogan-like rhetoric,” King said.
In response, Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全), the DPP’s vice presidential candidate and secretary-general, yesterday said in Taipei that transparency, democratic procedure and stability were the most important factors in the “Taiwan consensus,” which aims to facilitate a virtuous cycle for cross-strait engagement, so that cross-strait relations would be stable and consistent regardless of which political party wins the election.
A “Taiwan consensus” means that any change in Taiwan’s status should be determined by the people of Taiwan through a democratic procedure, Tsai campaign spokesperson Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) said.
“Ma is not qualified to be the head of state of a democracy when he tries to strip Taiwanese of their rights to determine their own future in favor of one-party rule,” Hsu said.
Hsu said that various public opinion polls showed that more than 70 percent of Taiwanese agree that “Taiwan is the Republic of China (ROC) and the ROC is Taiwan” and that Taiwan is a sovereign country and that they opposed engaging with China under the “one China” principle. Only slightly more than 10 percent of people agree with Ma’s argument of “one China equals the ROC,” she said.
Additional reporting by CNA
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
EMBRACING TAIWAN: US lawmakers have introduced an act aiming to replace the use of ‘Chinese Taipei’ with ‘Taiwan’ across all Washington’s federal agencies A group of US House of Representatives lawmakers has introduced legislation to replace the term “Chinese Taipei” with “Taiwan” across all federal agencies. US Representative Byron Donalds announced the introduction of the “America supports Taiwan act,” which would mandate federal agencies adopt “Taiwan” in place of “Chinese Taipei,” a news release on his page on the US House of Representatives’ Web site said. US representatives Mike Collins, Barry Moore and Tom Tiffany are cosponsors of the legislation, US political newspaper The Hill reported yesterday. “The legislation is a push to normalize the position of Taiwan as an autonomous country, although the official US
CONSISTENT COMMITMENT: The American Institute in Taiwan director said that the US would expand investment and trade relationships to make both nations more prosperous The US would not abandon its commitment to Taiwan, and would make Taiwan safer, stronger and more prosperous, American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene said. “The US’ commitment to Taiwan has been consistent over many administrations and over many years, and we will not abandon our commitment to Taiwan, including our opposition to any attempt to use force or coercion to change Taiwan’s status,” he said in an exclusive interview with the Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) on Friday last week, which was published in the Chinese-language newspaper yesterday. The US would double down on its efforts
RSS