Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Su Chi (蘇起) yesterday called on the government to give up its hardline stance on cross-strait affairs, which he said could protect Taiwan from having its international space squeezed by China.
Su Chi, a former chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), made the remarks in response to the abrupt severance of diplomatic relations with Chad, which came just hours before Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) was to leave for a visit to the central African country.
The government blamed China for forcing Chad to switch its diplomatic ties to Beijing. MAC Chairman Joseph Wu (
FILE PHOTO: WANG PING-YU, TAIPEI TIMES
But Su Chi urged the government to replace confrontation with negotiation and give thought to how to enhance cross-strait exchanges. He said that improving relations with China would help to ease China's suppression of Taiwan.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister James Huang (黃志芳) was criticized by some pan-blue legislators for not being aware of Chad's intent to sever ties sooner.
KMT Legislator John Chiang (
People First Party Legislator Lu Hsueh-chang (
"China has always suppressed Taiwan's activities in the international community. It didn't just start today. The government has to figure out why [Taiwan] keeps losing diplomatic allies, rather than just shifting the blame to China all the time," Lu said.
KMT caucus whip Tsai Chin-lung (
"The foreign ministry failed to totally control the information that Chad had decided to switch its diplomatic recognition to China. More importantly, we haven't seen the foreign ministry come up with a plan to respond to China's oil strategy in Africa," he said.
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