The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday signaled a willingness to re-establish direct communication with Beijing following a period of benign neglect under former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) administration.
Speaking on the party’s future China policy, DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said that, stripped of political preconditions, the DPP “does not discount the idea of entering into direct and realistic dialogue with China.”
The gesture comes after a number of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials traveled to China last week to meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) at the World Expo in Shanghai.
The number of cross-strait exchanges between KMT and Chinese officials have dramatically increased since 2008, fuelled by an election promise made by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to expand dialogue with Beijing.
Tsai criticized the government’s China policies as risky and misguided, adding that it was wrong for the KMT to dominate all channels of cross-strait dialogue.
Elaborating on comments she made during the April 25 debate on a proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA), Tsai said the DPP supports advancing relations with China as part of a broader plan involving other countries.
“The biggest difference between the KMT and the DPP is that, while the DPP supports ‘walking toward China through the international community,’ the KMT is ‘working with the international community through China,’” Tsai said.
Signaling a marked departure from Chen’s administration, Tsai told international media outlets last week that a future DPP government would work toward “more stable and consistent” relations with China and that cross-strait dialogue would become more predictable.
In what is widely perceived as an acceptance of criticism leveled at the former president, Tsai said conducting cross-strait relations required diplomatic experience and that the DPP had learned a great deal from its eight years in office.
Tsai said the party believed in “mutual benefits without discrimination, peace without conflict and equality without subordination.”
Tsai, however, also maintained that the DPP would not accept the “one China” framework, adding that Taiwan’s most important safeguard against Beijing was its vibrant democracy, love of liberty and respect for human rights.
Former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) said Beijing should move beyond its current ‘party to party’ dealings with Taiwan and try to find some common ground as a basis for future talks.
“The most pressing cross-strait political issue is that Beijing is worried about Taiwanese independence, while Taiwan is worried about being swallowed up by China,” Chen said, adding that the two governments should try and see beyond those problems.
He called for the creation of representative offices in Taipei and Beijing to take the place of quasi-official dealings between the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS).
Chen also said, however, that any new China policy should first win public support through a referendum.
Former legislator and independence advocate Lin Cho-shui (林濁水) said that while Taiwan should seek to build a trust with Beijing that was mutually beneficial, it should also continue to make clear that it would never accept unification.
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