Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) would “not rule out” a visit to China, he said in an interview yesterday.
“As long as it is beneficial to Taiwan and if there is a chance, I do not rule out” visiting China, said Chiang, who is seeking re-election as KMT chairman, with the vote expected in July.
Earlier in the interview with POP Radio host Chiu Ming-yu (邱明玉), Chiang said that the KMT encourages cross-strait dialogue, and he believes such interaction does not need to be restricted to specific individuals or political parties.
Photo courtesy of POP Radio
Cross-strait relations were relatively stable during former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) time in office, because there was dialogue and mutual trust, he said.
Asked about the KMT’s plans to set up a representative office in Washington, Chiang said that while travel restrictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic have prevented such an undertaking, he hoped to eventually visit the US to finalize the arrangements.
Separately, foreign advisers to KMT Legislator Charles Chen (陳以信) wrote in an article published in The Diplomat on Tuesday that the US’ strategic ambiguity on cross-strait issues “can best keep Taiwan safe.”
In the article, titled “Why US strategic ambiguity is safer for Taiwan,” Simon Chen (陳信維), Wang Kai-chun (王鎧均) and Samuel Hui (許劍虹) wrote that increased instability across the Taiwan Strait means that “any actions by the parties in the China-Taiwan-US triangular relationship will set off a chain of reactions, for better or for worse.”
“Therefore, determining whether strategic ambiguity or clarity can best maintain peace and stability in the region is of vital importance,” they wrote.
“The longstanding policy of strategic ambiguity employed by the US can best keep Taiwan safe, and deter China from attempting an amphibious invasion or any sort of military blockade to cut off the island,” they wrote.
Despite an increase in Chinese military capability, which has triggered concerns that Beijing might challenge the “status quo,” the authors wrote that due to the continued possibility of US military assistance, “China will still have to think twice before it starts a war with Taiwan.”
“Strategic ambiguity can restrict any unilateral decisions by both sides of the strait,” they wrote.
The policy “can prevent a declaration of independence from the Taiwan side on the assumption that the US will surely come to its aid,” they wrote.
US strategic ambiguity “essentially acts as a deterrence, and at the same time maintains a careful orchestrated balance of power by restricting all relevant parties from escalating the situation,” they wrote.
“War is not the only solution,” they wrote, adding that the nation “will not back down when we need to defend our democracy and way of life, but we have a responsibility as well to avoid a war from happening in the first place.”
Simon Chen, Wang and Hui are foreign-affairs advisers to Charles Chen, a legislator-at-large who sits on the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.
Simon Chen and Wang work in the KMT’s Department of International Affairs.
Charles Chen is also a deputy chairman of the Legislative Yuan USA Caucus and was among six caucus members who on April 15 met with a delegation sent by US President Joe Biden.
Additional reporting by CNA
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