Mon, Sep 27, 2021 page1

• Pandering to Beijing will make KMT target for ‘united front,’ MAC tells Chu

  • By Chen Yu-fu, Yang Chun-hui and Kayleigh Madjar / Staff reporters, with staff writer
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  Pro-Beijing pandering by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman-elect ignores the facts and would allow the party to become a target for China’s “united front” tactics, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday.

  The KMT on Saturday elected former New Taipei City mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) as chairman on promises of reopening all channels of communication with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

  Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday sent a letter congratulating Chu and calling for cooperation between the parties amid a “complex and grim” situation in the Taiwan Strait.

  

  The title and logo of the Mainland Affairs Council are displayed on a wall at its Taipei headquarters in an undated photograph.

  Photo: Chung Li-hua, Taipei Times

  Chu in response expressed his wish that the parties could seek common ground on the basis of the so-called “1992 consensus” and opposition to Taiwanese independence.

  The MAC later in the day condemned Chu for his remarks that “cater to the CCP while ignoring the facts.”

  By placing the blame for cross-strait tensions at the feet of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government, the KMT is allowing itself to become the primary target for Beijing’s “united front” efforts to divide Taiwanese, the council said.

  The government is committed to preserving peace across the Taiwan Strait, but CCP authorities repeatedly threaten and suppress the nation’s military and diplomatic efforts, destroying the “status quo” while refusing to communicate, it said.

  These are the main sources of cross-strait tensions and the biggest challenges Taiwan faces, it said, adding that Beijing’s actions have been condemned by Taiwanese and the international community alike.

  Chu’s black-and-white statements accusing the DPP of obstructing China portend that the KMT’s cross-strait policy is to drift farther from public opinion, it said.

  The council also urged the KMT to understand how Beijing’s definition of the “1992 consensus” denies Taiwanese sovereignty and interactions on this basis have repeatedly failed to gain public support.

  The DPP also condemned Chu’s response to Xi’s letter, saying that no other political party in a democracy would expect to receive a congratulatory message from the leader of an autocratic government.

  Chu only cares about meeting Beijing’s expectations while ignoring mainstream domestic public opinion, it said, adding that this kind of leadership cannot carry the KMT into a new era as Chu has promised.

  The DPP also decried Chu’s failure to hold the true perpetrators to account while blaming the victims.

  Chu’s criticism of his deep-blue opponent, Sun Yat-sen School president Chang Ya-chung (張亞中), during the campaign suggested a move away from the old KMT party line, but he lacked the courage to refute Xi’s alignment of the two parties, the DPP said, calling his unwillingness to speak up for public opinion “regrettable.”

  The “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 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.
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