Building a “consensus of the Taiwanese” is crucial for Taiwan to engage China with confidence, but Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) “Taiwan consensus” is questionable for its “emptiness,” academics said yesterday.
“A consensus among Taiwanese is important so that Taiwan can negotiate with China with a ‘shared’ position. However, that would be a difficult goal given that national identity has been Taiwan’s ‘Achilles’ heel,’” Chao Chun-shan (趙春山), a political scientist at Tamkang University, told a seminar organized by the Taiwan Competitiveness Forum.
The seminar aimed to discuss the possibility of a “consensus of the Taiwanese,” which would be a combination of the so-called “1992 consensus” and the “Taiwan consensus,” the central theme of a recent war of words between the DPP and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Tsai, the DPP’s presidential candidate, has tried to replace the “1992 consensus” with the “Taiwan consensus,” which Chao described as “an empty initiative that no one understands,” adding that she has so far failed to convince people the DPP can come up with a better solution, he said.
Beijing will not accept Tsai’s initiative, which emphasizes a democratic process involving all parties within Taiwanese society, because her China policy has always been somewhere between “a special state-to-state relationship,” a phrase coined by former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), and former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) “one country on each side,” said Chang Ya-chung (張亞中), a professor at National Taiwan University who advocates eventual unification based on a “one China, three constitutions” initiative.
Hwang Kwang-kuo (黃光國), a professor at the same school and a unification supporter, said while internal divisions did not serve Taiwan’s national interest, the January presidential election was bound to be “a duel between two consensuses.”
The “1992 consensus” that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has been espousing would provide Taiwan with flexibility for future engagement, Hwang said.
He said the DPP would need to review its China policy if it lost the election.
There could be some adjustment for the KMT to make as well even if Ma is re-elected, said Chang Wu-yueh (張五岳) of Tamkang University.
Ma is unlikely to receive the same strong mandate as he did in 2008 and the KMT is expected to lose some seats in the legislature, which means the ruling party would not be able to dominate cross-strait engagement and would have to make concessions, he said.
“However, it is an open secret that there has been no dialogue between the two major political parties at all during the past three years,” Chang said.
The discussion of the “1992 consensus” is not meaningful as the true important matter was the “2008 consensus” reached by Ma and China after his landslide victory, Taiwan Thinktank consultant Chang Kuo-cheng (張國城) said.
The real question for the DPP is whether it accepts the “2008 consensus,” which represents the position of “anti-Taiwan independence and de facto one China,” he said.
Regardless of how difficult it would be, political parties in Taiwan should keep looking for common ideas to build a consensus, said Thomas Peng (彭錦鵬), a National Taiwan University political scientist.
“In my opinion, the common values could include the Republic of China [ROC], the ROC Constitution, a ‘Taiwan first’ mentality and ‘one China with different interpretations,’” Peng said.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS