President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said that her cross-strait policy would remain unchanged, despite the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) losses in the nine-in-one elections last Saturday, adding that Taiwanese did not vote on cross-strait relations, nor has there been a shift in their general expectation for the future of ties.
Tsai made the remarks when receiving a delegation from the New York-based National Committee on American Foreign Policy at the Presidential Office in Taipei, where she congratulated former US ambassador to Tajikistan Susan Elliott on assuming the presidency of the committee in August.
“Your visit came on the heels of the conclusion of our nine-in-one local elections. I believe you have listened to different opinions about the races, which showed that the people have accumulated discontent over some domestic affairs and reform efforts,” Tsai said.
Photo: CNA
The president said that her administration has engaged in profound post-election reflection in the hope of ensuring that its reform plans and national development projects could receive more public support moving forward.
“However, it is our belief that the people of Taiwan did not make a choice on the issue of cross-strait policy in the local elections, nor is there a major change [in their expectation for the future of cross-strait ties],” Tsai said.
“As such, our policy to maintain the cross-strait ‘status quo’ will remain unchanged after the elections,” she said.
One day after the elections, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Ma Xiaoguang (馬曉光) interpreted the results of the elections — in which the China-leaning Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) took control of 15 of the 22 cities and counties — as “an indicator that most people in Taiwan hope to continue enjoying the benefits that the peaceful development of cross-strait relations could bring.”
Amid concerns that the 15 KMT-governed local governments could team up and monopolize cross-strait exchanges to further isolate the DPP government, Tsai said that her stance on cross-strait city-to-city exchanges has always been the same, which is to look at them with an open and positive attitude.
“That said, we hope that there will be no political prerequisites to these city-to-city exchanges. Let exchanges be purely just that and free of the interference of political prerequisites,” Tsai said.
Even though the DPP’s performance in the elections was disappointing, democratic elections remain Taiwan’s most valuable asset, one that sets the nation apart from China, she said.
Taiwan would continue to safeguard the values of freedom and democracy in collaboration with other like-minded nations, she added.
Later yesterday, delegation members met with KMT Chairman Wu Den-yi (吳敦義), who said that the best tactic for Taiwan would be to make peace with China, be friendly toward Japan, and be close to the US and other democratic nations.
“In the future, we will still endeavor to maintain peaceful development of [cross-strait] ties under the premise of the ‘1992 consensus’ and ‘one China, different interpretations,’” Wu said, adding that the US is Taiwan’s most important partner and that he believed Taiwan-US relations would remain strong regardless of which party is in power.
The so-called “1992 consensus” — a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted making up in 2000 — refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party that both sides acknowledge that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS