President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) attacked Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) cross-strait policies in an interview published yesterday, saying that the main reason Tsai refused to accept the so-called “1992 consensus” is because she does not accept the Republic of China (ROC).
“The ‘one China’ in ‘one China, with each side having its own interpretation’ refers to the Republic of China,” Ma was quoted as saying in his interview with the Chinese-language China Times on Thursday. “Why does she [Tsai] not accept it? How hard can it be? If she can’t accept it then that means that she does not accept the Republic of China.”
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government says that the “1992 consensus” was reached during cross-strait talks in Hong Kong in 1992, with both sides agreeing that there is “one China, with each side having its own interpretation.”
The DPP says the “1992 consensus” does not exist.
In the interview, Ma focused on the issue of cross-strait policies. He not only insisted that the “1992 consensus” was not a made-up term, but added that he had twice asked former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to accept the “1992 consensus” and met with a positive response, only to have it blocked by Tsai, then serving as the chairperson of the Mainland Affairs Council.
Referring to Tsai’s proposal of a “Taiwan consensus,” which highlights the democratic process of decisionmaking, Ma accused Tsai and the DPP of claiming that -everything must be subject to democratic processes only because they are against the “1992 consensus.”
The basis for current interaction across the straits is “democratic processes,” Ma said.
“Our definition of ‘one China’ in the ‘1992 consensus’ is the ROC,” Ma was quoted as saying in the interview. “Does that need to be submitted to a democratic process? Do we need to vote again on the name of the nation?”
“Just what kind of democratic process has to be gone through?” Ma asked, adding that if the DPP was not happy with the term “1992 consensus,” then the matter could easily be resolved by changing the term to “one China, different interpretations.”
“Things are generally only named after the fact. The 823 Artillery Bombardment wasn’t called that when it began; its not like we all decided to agree to have a artillery battle on Aug. 23,” Ma said.
Cross-strait relations should be based on “mutual denial of each other’s sovereignty and mutual non-denial of respective jurisdictions,” Ma said, adding that in the process of current cross-strait relationships, it was preferable to retain a small gray area while actually getting some things done.
Ma also said that if one treated the ROC as a government-in-exile, then nothing further could be said on the subject, adding that Tsai had this kind of “psychological disorder.”
In response to Ma’s criticism that Tsai “does not accept the Republic of China,” DPP caucus whip Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) yesterday accused Ma of “deliberately seeking to malign Tsai Ing-wen,” saying that she was running for the presidency of the ROC and had previously stated that “the ROC is Taiwan.”
Tsai Ing-wen only refused to acknowledge the “1992 consensus” under the “one China principle,” Tsai Huang-liang said.
“I hope that Ma apologizes for such unbefitting slander,” he added.
DPP spokesperson Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) also said that Tsai Ing-wen had said many times before that “Taiwan is the ROC, and the ROC is Taiwan.”
“Whether it is that Ma does not understand what Tsai Ing-wen is saying, or he is deliberately manipulating the issue of national recognition and causing tension between different groups,” Chen Chi-mai said.
“I cannot condone Ma’s manipulation of the issue,” the spokesperson said.
Chen Chi-mai said there must be a democratic system to focus the “Taiwan consensus” established on the basic principles of democracy, equality, and peace.
“By focusing on the ‘Taiwan consensus’ we can then start a dialogue with China through a variety of levels and channels, and only then can we establish a long-term and durable cross-strait mechanism,” Chen Chi-mai said.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
RSS