The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) would adopt a more conciliatory stance in cross-strait relations that would seek to find more of a middle ground with China if it were to regain power in 2012, DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday.
Tsai used a rare chance to speak with the international press to suggest that the party’s China policies would remain consistent with those under President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
“I do believe that there needs to be some sort of continuity in administrating [affairs with China],” she said in English. “It is not only the [Taiwanese] people that require that sort of stability, but I think that people outside of Taiwan need that kind of stability too.”
While she declined to mention any specific measures that a future DPP administration would take, she did say the party would not rule out directly engaging in talks with China in the absence of political preconditions.
“I believe that the best way to do so is to begin to conduct dialogue with policy advisors and think tanks across the Strait to gradually build a credible mechanism for bridging our differences and enhance [mutual] understanding,” she said.
This is not the first time the 54 year-old Tsai, a former Mainland Affairs Council chairperson, has sought to reassure the international community that the DPP would no longer pursue the same confrontational cross-strait policies that were a hallmark of former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) administration.
On Friday last week, she suggested in an interview with the Chinese-language Apple Daily that the DPP would most likely continue Ma’s cross-strait policies and that any changes would have to be supported by public consensus and legislative approval.
In a previous meeting with the international press in May, she also insisted the DPP had learned from its eight years in office and would work on a more predictable China policy. She has said that stable cross-strait relations would form a key component of the DPP’s 10-year policy guidelines.
“I do believe we can find a way to resolve whatever problems we have with China that we have to deal with in the short-term,” she said yesterday. “I don’t think maintaining a stable and peaceful relationship requires sacrifice from our sovereignty and democracy.”
On the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), she said the DPP was still firmly against the far-reaching trade pact but added that any changes would have to be supported by either public consensus or legislative approval.
“We don’t have to go that far as to hold a referendum [on the ECFA], but it’s also hard to exclude that sort of probability, despite the fact that we will make genuine efforts to reach this consensus and acquire the consent of the legislature,” she said.
While she acknowledged that, compared with the Ma administration, there was a general expectation the DPP needed to be firmer on sovereignty and national security-related issues in the face of growing Chinese pressure, she said the issues could be overcome through greater cross-strait interaction.
However, she maintained increasing cross-strait exchanges would not be conducted at the expense of Taiwan’s ties with the rest of the world.
“This is distinct from the KMT government approach, which embraces China as a [corridor] to the world,” she said.
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