Vice President Willam Lai (賴清德), the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate, yesterday said he and his running mate, Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), are the choice for a responsible and stable government as he criticized the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party of steering the nation to be more dependent on China.
“The KMT claimed we can only depend on China for our economy. That time has passed. With Taiwan’s economic strength, we need not and must not go back to where we were,” Lai told the crowd at the rally held at the launch of his national campaign headquarters in Taipei.
Lai said his opponents have called for a controversial cross-strait service trade agreement with China, accepting the so-called “1992 consensus” and recognizing Taiwan and China as “one family on both sides of the Taiwan Strait” (兩岸一家親), adding that the KMT even said they want to allow Chinese students to work in Taiwan.
Photo: Chiang Ying-ying, AP
The “1992 consensus” — a term that former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted making up in 2000 — refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
“Allowing young people from China to work in Taiwan is to solve Beijing’s youth unemployment problem at the expense of Taiwanese young people’s future,” Lai said. “We cannot entrust our country to politicians of opposition parties, who want to give up our sovereignty, sacrifice our economic autonomy, tolerating the social impact in exchange for peace across the Taiwan Strait.”
As peace across the Taiwan Strait has become a global issue, the world is watching the direction Taiwan is heading and wants to increase partnerships with Taiwan, he said.
“This election is a choice on the direction Taiwan is taking. Choosing the Lai-Hsiao camp is to trust in Taiwan, a country that continues to open itself to the world,” Lai said.
Hsiao said she and Lai would continue the stable and steady leadership of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), so that Taiwanese can face the world with pride and dignity.
Tsai in her speech stumping for the Lai-Hsiao ticket at the rally said that next month’s presidential election is not a choice between war and peace, but a choice for Taiwanese to have peace with dignity.
“Everybody wants peace, and nobody wants war. However, we do not want Hong Kong-style peace. We want peace with dignity,” Tsai said.
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