Taiwan should adopt “a slower pace” in cross-strait developments to avoid a potential misstep, focusing instead on valuing its own national advancement, former German federal minister for special affairs Egon Bahr warned last year, sources said.
According to sources, while meeting with several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials, including Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), during his visit to Taiwan last year, Bahr said cross-strait relations involved critical issues of regional balance and security.
Taipei should ratchet down the speed of cross-strait developments to avoid any mistakes and place greater importance on its own national development, Bahr reportedly said.
Bahr, a mainstay in German politics from the 1960s until 1990, played an instrumental role in the normalization of relations between East and West Germany ahead of their eventual reunification.
Bahr is credited with influencing Ostpolitik, which was adopted by former West German chancellor Willy Brandt, by proposing a new policy of Wandel durch Annaherung (“change through rapprochement”). The implementation of the new policy sought to put an end to the entrenched East-West divide through reconciliation and stronger collaboration.
According to the sources, Bahr said he signed the Basic Treaty with East Germany and reached a consensus with the communist state on the principle that the reunification of Germany lay within the historical destiny of both sides and that the two Germanies were not foreign states to each other.
However, Bahr said such an approach could only have worked in the conflict between East and West Germany and it was not applicable to cross-strait relations, the sources added.
Commenting on Bahr’s reported statements, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Su Chen-ching (蘇震清) said that for Bahr, who played a key role in the reunification of two divided nations, to tell Taiwan to slow down the pace on cross-strait developments highlighted the critical nature of what should be a core issue for the nation.
Su said President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had implemented several “pro-China” policies since he took office in 2008 and triggered widespread public criticism.
He added that the rapid pace of Ma’s turn toward China also “raised great concerns for many.”
“Taiwanese should awaken to China’s pro-reunification stance,” Su said. “The nation must put more emphasis on its own advancement as opposed to constantly looking toward China.”
Senior KMT officials also commented, saying that both Beijing and Taipei had emphasized their mutual recognition to put aside disputes, to target peaceful development, to respect history and to face reality.
They added that the present approach was to facilitate mutual development in an amiable manner.
Translated by Stacy Hsu, Staff Writer
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as