Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said in an interview with the New York Times published yesterday that her China policy has been consistent through the years — one that does not accept the “one China” principle and advocates bilateral engagement with a democratic process and under a multilateral framework.
The DPP chairperson said that a “Taiwan consensus,” based on majority opinion through open dialogue, is a better way to deal with China than the opaque -decision-making process used by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for decades.
The so-called “1992 consensus” has been advocated by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), her opponent in next Saturday’s presidential election, and Beijing because China has insisted on it as a precondition for any cross-strait exchanges.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
The 1992 consensus “is messy and nobody has a clear idea or convincing argument as to what happened in the 1990s,” she said.
Tsai said that the Taiwan consensus “means people in Taiwan have to get together and form a consensus of their own and that they would then turn around and talk to the Chinese to form a cross-strait consensus so we can build a relationship on that consensus.”
“And in my view, that is the right order to do things. And with that, we can build a long-lasting relationship with China,” she said.
Taiwan needs to manage uncertainty in dealing with China, a rising power that “is not a democracy or a full market economy yet,” to make sure it could insulate itself from problems such as social instability China may be facing, she said.
Taiwan appears to have lost its sovereignty because more international partners think Taiwan has accepted the “one China” principle and Ma’s interpretation of the cross-strait relationship as an “area-to-area relationship,” Tsai said.
Her China policy has been “pretty consistent” since she served as minister of the Mainland Affairs Council, Tsai said, as she said that Taiwan should leave its options open, but the important decisions have to made by the people through a democratic process.
“I do think we need to normalize our trade and economic relationship [with China] in the multilateral framework of the WTO. That continues to be my position,” she said.
Tsai raised several points about the development of Taiwan’s democracy, saying the bright side is that there are more mature voters and citizens, but there has been increasing Chinese influence as well.
The KMT’s large party assets continued to hurt fair competition between political parties, she added.
She said she was not worried about the US abandoning Taiwan, because Taiwan was not facing China alone and if the US is serious about returning to the Asia-Pacific region, it should boost the confidence of all the countries in the region.
The presidential hopeful said that former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) corruption case did not reflect on the DPP, adding that it is the KMT that still has prevalent and systemic corruption.
On economic issues, she highlighted the need for job creation and a change of strategy because Taiwan needs to pursue an employment-driven economy, instead of a GDP-driven one, and change the economy from one based on cost to one based on technology and innovation.
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday established a friendship group with their counterparts in Ukraine to promote parliamentary exchanges between the two countries. A ceremony in Taipei for the Taiwan-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Association, initiated by DPP Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷), was attended by lawmakers and officials, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) and European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan Director Lutz Gullner. The increasingly dire situation in Ukraine is a global concern, and Taiwan cannot turn its back when the latter is in need of help, as the two countries share many common values and interests,
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding