Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) told The Economist in an interview that she considers talks on peaceful unification with China “premature,” the party said in a statement yesterday.
She also said that she hopes to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in the first half of this year to push for a commitment to peace, the KMT said, citing the interview conducted on Tuesday last week and published on Thursday.
Cheng spoke about cross-strait peace, national identity, national defense and security, and US-China relations in the interview, the statement said.
Photo: CNA
The KMT’s most important task for the next three to five years is to create peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, Cheng said in the interview.
She said she hopes for exchanges and dialogue with China, including meeting with Xi, as she advocates for cross-strait reconciliation.
Communication and interaction at systematic levels could reduce the risk of misjudgement, and avoid conflicts and escalation, she said.
The two sides must absolutely prevent war or armed conflict from occurring, as it would bring unimaginable and catastrophic consequences, she said.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) does not accept the “1992 consensus” and promotes a de facto “two states” theory, which has led to increasingly confrontational cross-strait relations in the past decade, she said.
Embracing the “1992 consensus” would “significantly reduce the likelihood of military confrontation,” Cheng said.
The so-called “1992 consensus” refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese government that both sides of the Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Asked about Beijing’s high expectations for “peaceful unification,” Cheng called herself a pragmatic politician.
The most important task is to establish a peace framework, she said, adding that she could accept it if it is also acceptable to people on both sides of the Strait.
However, it would be “premature” to discuss it, she said.
Rational dialogue and mutual understanding between China and the US could promote regional peace and stability, she said, adding that she hopes for reconciliation between the two countries.
Hopefully, there is a win-win solution and this is not a zero-sum game, she said, adding that from Taiwan’s perspective, China is an indispensable market.
Asked about concerns that the US would abandon Taiwan, she said they are not unfounded.
“What Taiwan is feeling is the fear that the US may abandon Taiwan,” she said, pointing to a US arms shipment backlog, while Washington is seeking to relocate key industries, including semiconductor manufacturers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, to the US.
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