Broadcasting Corp of China chairman Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康) yesterday said that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) “should not follow the Democratic Progressive Party’s [DPP] direction,” after KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) had said that China posed a threat to Taiwan.
Chiang was quoted by Reuters as saying during an interview that China’s “one country, two systems” formula for an unification with Taiwan “has no market” in the nation.
Chiang also described China as the major threat to Taiwan, Reuters reported.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Jaw, who has expressed interest in running for KMT chairman this year and in the 2024 presidential election, wrote on Facebook that Chiang’s view on China was inaccurate.
“As long as cross-strait relations are frozen, mainland China is only potentially a major threat to Taiwan,” Jaw wrote.
Jaw wrote that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) had an “anti-China attitude” and would engage in “Boxer Rebellion-like provocation” across the Taiwan Strait.
China is “potentially Taiwan’s biggest source of profit,” he added.
Later yesterday, Jaw told reporters that Taiwan should not “make China angry,” because it has a powerful economy and larger military.
Asked whether Chiang was trying to paint the KMT as opposing communism and unification, Jaw said that the KMT should distinguish itself from the DPP.
“If the KMT follows the DPP ... voters would just vote for the DPP because there would not be any use for the KMT,” he said.
“The DPP is feeding fantasy to the people and causes tensions across the Strait, so why should we learn from them?” Jaw said.
Asked whether he opposes Chiang’s position on China, Jaw said that he only responded to Chiang’s latest statement and is not familiar with the position he expressed over the years.
Taiwan last year had a trade surplus with China of US$140.5 billion, or twice the general budget of the government, he said.
“If this money is gone, what would happen to the stock market? What would happen to Taiwanese society?” Jaw said.
Jaw said that the DDP is to blame for the situation across the Strait.
“While China should exercise self-restraint, Taiwan should not be poking China all the time, telling Beijing to hit us,” he said.
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