Rational cross-strait dialogue must be based on opposition to Taiwanese independence to lower tensions, which aligns with the shared strategic interests of the US, China and Taiwan, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) said last week during a luncheon in Boston.
During her tour of the US, Cheng on Wednesday last week attended a luncheon with US think tank Defense Priorities Asia Program director Lyle Goldstein, the KMT said in a news release yesterday.
They agreed that reducing the geopolitical risk is the primary task for maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait and within the international community, the party said.
Photo courtesy of the KMT
Cheng shared her family history with Goldstein, saying that both of their fathers had military backgrounds, the KMT said.
Cheng said that her father — as a member of the “lost army” in northern Thailand who eventually made his way to Taiwan — deeply understood the ruthlessness and cruelty of war, while Goldstein’s father served as a military doctor.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) used anti-China sentiment in the 2020 presidential election to attract young voters, saving its campaign, Cheng said.
However, after more than four years, Taiwan’s younger generation has seen the true nature of the DPP, which only cares about its own political interests while disregarding security in the Strait, she said.
As a result, millions of young voters abandoned the DPP in the 2024 elections, demonstrating that public opinion has shifted toward a desire for peace, stability and prosperity, she added.
Following public backlash, the opposition parties have demonstrated a solid foundation of cooperation in the legislature and local governments, Cheng said, adding that the KMT is confident it would return to power in 2028.
Goldstein has faced backlash for an article he wrote for Time magazine in October last year titled “The US Must Beware of Taiwan’s Reckless Leader,” arguing that President William Lai’s (賴清德) cross-strait policies pose a risk to regional security.
In Taipei, DPP Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) yesterday criticized Cheng’s comments, saying they mirrored the rhetoric used by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office.
Cheng traveled to the democratic US, only to meet with an academic sympathetic to China, Wang said.
Her actions would not affect the mainstream international community or Washington, Wang said, adding that everyone knows that, although Cheng is from Taiwan, everything she does is for the purpose of flattering Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).
Tunghai University Center for Mainland China and Regional Development Research deputy director Hung Pu-chao (洪浦釗) said that China has long sought to push the narrative that opposing Taiwanese independence is in the shared interest of the US, China and Taiwan.
In reality, there is no such thing as “Taiwanese independence,” as the Republic of China is already an independent sovereign nation that has never been ruled by the People’s Republic of China, Hung said.
The true shared interests of the international community is peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, he said, adding that China has long attributed the Taiwan Strait issue to Taiwanese independence, with the goal of shifting the international community’s focus away from its military threats and onto Taiwan.
Additional reporting by Lin Che-yuan and Chen Yu-fu
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