Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday said they suspect that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Andrew Hsia (夏立言) has a “hidden agenda” to meet secretly with top officials in Beijing during a planned trip, while other parties accused Hsia and other KMT members of “collaborating” with an enemy state.
DPP Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) and fellow party members said that the KMT is “colluding” with China instead of voicing support for Taiwan as Beijing undermines regional peace and security.
“The KMT is pandering to Beijing leadership and kowtowing while an enemy strikes at Taiwan’s doorstep,” Lo said at the legislature in Taipei.
Photo: CNA
Lo, a member of the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, said that the KMT has “a secret political agenda” and is deceiving the public by saying that the China visit is “not political.”
“Will Hsia’s delegation hold a meeting with Chinese government officials?” he asked.
“The KMT said they have no such plan, but would attend arrangements made by the hosts, which suggests that they have the hidden agenda and are concealing meetings with Chinese officials,” Lo said.
He also said that Hsia’s delegation should voice protest against Beijing’s military exercises in waters around Taiwan if they meet with officials.
Lo also said that Hsia’s delegation should challenge China’s recent white paper, titled The Taiwan Question and China’s Reunification in the New Era, which contradicts the KMT’s position on a “one country, two systems” approach.
The Taiwan Statebuilding Party also said Hsia’s delegation was comprised of “collaborators,” and is subverting solidarity among Taiwanese.
“The delegation is acting as agents for the Chinese Communist Party. The KMT always works against Taiwan’s national interests,” Taiwan Statebuilding Party Secretary General Wang Hsin-huan (王興煥) said at a news conference in Taipei.
“China’s military belligerence is just short of declaring war, but Hsia leads a delegation to China as collaborators with the enemy, causing discord and strife within Taiwan, and sending the wrong message to the world,” Wang said.
“The KMT’s top officials only have China’s interests in their heart,” he said, adding: “There is no need to return to Taiwan.”
New Power Party (NPP) officials at a separate news conference expressed strong disapproval of the delegation’s trip, and criticized KMT Legislator Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), who is seeking the Taipei mayorality, for defending Hsia by stating the visit to China could “help to maintain room for cross-strait dialogue.”
“We cannot accept such a remark, and most Taipei residents are disappointed with Chiang,” said Jerry Liu (劉仕傑), a former diplomat in foreign services and an NPP candidate for Taipei City Council.
“It seems that the KMT wants people in Taiwan to kowtow to the Chinese Communist dictatorship to give up our national sovereignty, and only in doing so they say we can maintain room for dialogue,” Liu said.
“We are now facing Chinese military intimidation, putting our lives under threat, and Chiang still chooses to shield the KMT’s pandering to China,” he added.
NPP Chairwoman Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) said that China must recognize Taiwan as a democratic country with its own government and elected representatives.
“Taiwan has the right to conduct foreign diplomacy with other nations around the world. Recent Chinese military actions have shown the international community that China is the troublemaker, out to destroy peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” Chen said.
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