Responding to calls for President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to arrange a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), Deputy Legislative Speaker Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) yesterday said that the move is unnecessary.
The Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) Foundation on Sunday accused Tsai of undermining the efforts of Ma’s administration to establish peaceful relations with China, while exhorting Tsai Ing-wen to meet with Xi, provided that she would agree to the so-called “1992 consensus.”
Speaking on Clara Chou’s (周玉蔻) radio talk show, Tsai Chi-chang said on the air that only presidents who accomplish nothing over their two terms in office must resort to meeting with Xi to cement their role in history.
Photo courtesy of Hit FM via CNA
“President Tsai Ing-wen has no such need, as she has successfully safeguarded the nation’s sovereignty and put into motion much of what other presidents were afraid to do,” he said.
Tsai Chi-chang dismissed a Tsai-Xi meeting as KMT rhetoric, saying that it thinly veiled the party’s position that without such a meeting, Taiwan would remain in danger.
Even if such a meeting took place, it would occur under a Beijing-imposed “box,” he added.
Tsai Chi-chang acknowledged that the US election result would inevitably increase Beijing’s threats to annex Taiwan, but said that he believes Tsai Ing-wen can hold firm, even after US President Donald Trump leaves the White House.
The most recent local elections have shown that the younger generation loves Taiwan, loves the Republic of China (ROC) and will not accept unification with the People’s Republic of China, he said.
Tsai Chi-chang brushed aside KMT allegations that Tsai Ing-wen’s administration was too quick in supporting Trump in the US election, saying that no government in the world would jump to such a conclusion.
Taiwan-US relations are deepening as the US discovers that China harbors great ambitions and is a significant threat to US interests, and due to Taiwan long being threatened by China, he said.
Regardless of who becomes president of the US — president-elect Joe Biden or Trump — their aim of furthering US interests is the same, with only the means changing, Tsai Chi-chang said, adding that the core tenet of Tsai Ing-wen’s administration — to enact policies benefiting Taiwan — also remains the same.
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 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese government that both sides of the Strait acknowledge that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
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