Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members yesterday demanded that the leader of a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) delegation to China to speak up for Taiwan and express the public’s discontent over Chinese military threats.
KMT Vice Chairman Andrew Hsia (夏立言) yesterday left for China on a nine-day visit amid heightened tensions with Beijing.
“We wish for Hsia to express the public’s objection to China’s military intimidation, with regular incursions into our airspace, and the deployment of warships and missiles aimed at Taiwan,” DPP legislative caucus director Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬) told a news conference at the legislature in Taipei.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
“On Taiwan’s behalf, Hsia should lodge a strong protest with Beijing against these military threats, and also over the Chinese propaganda being spread that claim Taiwan is a province under its rule,” he said.
Cheng said that Hsia should seek to uphold the Republic of China’s sovereignty and urge the normalization of links and travel between the countries, without allowing China to “degrade Taiwan’s political status.”
“Hsia should also state in clear terms that the KMT would not accept China’s so-called ‘one China principle’ or its ‘one country, two systems’ model,” Cheng said.
Although Hsia has said that his visit is to improve cross-strait dialogue, while addressing issues of the Taiwanese community in China, his real purpose is political, DPP Legislator Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said.
“What is the real purpose for holding talks between the two political parties?” Liu said. “Is the delegation there to pass on important messages regarding KMT’s plans for the upcoming presidential and legislative elections?”
DPP Legislator Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) said that he was concerned about Hsia’s scheduled meeting with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) politburo member Wang Huning (王滬寧), who is deputy head of the Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs.
“Wang has been a close aide to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平), acting as the chief architect of China’s ‘united front’ propaganda efforts against Taiwan,” Hung said, adding that Wang is an “anti-US hawk” in the CCP.
“This visit is for the CCP to interview Hsia, for Beijing to approve the KMT’s [election] plans,” he said. “However, we hope Hsia can communicate to China the mainstream Taiwanese public opinion in unequivocal terms — that the majority of Taiwanese refuse to be ruled by China.”
DPP spokeswoman Melody Huang (黃彩玲) called Wang “the architect of Beijing’s ‘one country, two systems’ formula for Taiwan.”
DPP spokesman Chang Chih-hao (張志豪) said that New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) and Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕), both of the KMT, were not speaking out against Hsia’s visit, after they were critical of his visit to China in August last year amid Chinese military drills around Taiwan.
“Where are the voices of objection this time? Why are Hou and Lu not speaking up to oppose Hsia’s trip to China this time?” he said.
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