The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is setting political thresholds that would hinder, if not make impossible, efforts by incoming president William Lai’s (賴清德) administration to initiate dialogue with China, experts said yesterday.
Citing comments by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華), Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said that the CCP was asking the impossible by demanding that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) set aside its Taiwanese independence stance.
Commenting on Lai’s inaugural address on Monday next week, Chen said that any Taiwanese party willing to recognize Beijing’s “one China” principle would face “no difficulties” when interacting with the CCP, adding that cross-strait dialogue is only possible if the DPP abandons its Taiwanese independence stance.
Photo: Screengrab from the Internet
Taiwanese independence cannot coexist with cross-strait peace, Chen said, adding that Beijing is adamant that Taiwan observe the “one China” principle and the so-called “1992 consensus” to promote peaceful cross-strait relations with the ultimate aim of unification.
The so-called “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 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the CCP that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Wu said that the CCP’s demands were tailored to make it difficult for the DPP, and that China could very well demand that the KMT give up its claims that the Republic of China (ROC) is a sovereign state.
After all, the CCP considers the ROC defunct and its existence creates the “two Chinas” issue, he said.
Lai would never accept the “one China” principle, and his inaugural address would clarify how Taiwan would approach cross-strait relations based on Taiwanese sovereignty and the sovereignty of the ROC, he said.
Lai has also made it clear that any interaction with China would be based on the understanding that the nations are on equal footing, he added.
China’s actions over the past few years have left no room for the ROC’s interpretation of “one China” and that it willfully ignores Taiwan’s stance, Wu said.
If China insists on placing prerequisites on cross-strait dialogue, it is to blame for undermining cross-strait relations, he said.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
RSS