A think tank forum held between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) last week was not political, but focused on helping Taiwanese businesses, KMT Vice Chairman Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday.
Hsiao, alongside National Policy Foundation deputy chairman Lee Hong-yuan (李鴻源), last week visited Beijing to attend the forum, where they on Wednesday met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧).
The forum was a platform for Taiwanese industry experts and academics to exchange views with Chinese representatives from academia, industry and the government on issues such as disaster prevention, tourism, medicine, industry, carbon reduction and artificial intelligence, Hsiao said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The discussions focused on renewable energy, disaster prevention, emerging industries, and health and medicine collaboration, Lee said.
He was responding to Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) reports that Wang said that “the foundation for a peace framework must be predicated on eventual Chinese unification.”
Lee said no hidden issues or agendas were discussed at the forum.
Not a word at the event was related to political issues, Hsiao said, adding that the media was reporting false narratives to foster the image that the KMT is on the side of the CCP.
Commenting on whether a possible meeting between KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) would affect a rumored meeting between Xi and US President Donald Trump in April, Hsiao said he did not think there is anyone in the world who could affect the topics discussed between the US and China.
Cheng’s possible visit to China is not related to the Trump-Xi meeting, he said, adding that there is no information on when the chairwoman’s trip would occur, but the party would issue statements when there is more information.
Asked whether the party was blocking the special defense budget to improve its chances of facilitating a Cheng-Xi meeting or whether the KMT would be amenable to talks after Cheng returns from a visit to the US, Hsiao said a Cheng-Xi meeting would play no part in the party’s decision to delay the proposal.
The KMT’s stance on the defense budget is that arms purchases must be reasonable, he said.
A visit to China was backed by popular opinion, he said, citing reports last year showing that 88 percent of polled respondents said cross-strait dialogue must be maintained, and 75 percent of Democratic Progressive Party supporters said that a complete breakdown in dialogue cannot be allowed.
Hsiao also cited a poll published last year in the Chinese-language Global Views Monthly that showed that 63.9 percent of respondents said they did not wish to fight in a war, nor did they wish for their family to fight.
From the same poll, 53.9 percent said the government should maintain the “status quo,” he added.
Additional reporting by Liu Wan-lin
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