Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) comments that suggested using the longstanding Beijing cross-strait initiative of “one country, two systems (一國兩制)” in dealing with Taiwan violated mainstream public opinion in the nation and will not be accepted as an option in cross-strait relations, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday.
In Xi’s meeting with former vice president Lien Chan (連戰) in Beijing on Tuesday, Xi was quoted by state-owned Xinhua news agency as saying that China “respects the social system and lifestyle that Taiwanese compatriots have chosen” and it “completely understands how Taiwan compatriots feel.”
However, “family affection will help heal past wounds” and Beijing has “patience and confidence” that the existing problems would be solved, Xi was quoted as saying in the meeting with Lien, who is scheduled to conclude his four-day visit today.
Photo: CNA
The Chinese president reiterated that “it has never changed, and will never change, that we belong to one nation.”
“Xi was basically again proposing ‘one country, two systems,’ but the majority of Taiwanese do not accept it,” the DPP’s Policy Research Committee executive director Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) told a press conference.
The mainstream public opinion in Taiwan as well as the DPP’s view are clear, as various polls have showed, that people see Taiwan as an independent and sovereign country without subordination, and any change to the “status quo” would require the consent of the 23 million Taiwanese, Wu said.
Wu said that China has not only tried to undermine relations between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the DPP, but also the KMT’s internal relations. For example, Beijing received Lien, a former KMT chairman, with higher-level protocol than it did Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦), who as a representative of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) met with his Chinese counterpart last week in Nanjing for the first governmental meeting between the two sides in 65 years, he said.
“It’s clear that Lien no longer represents Ma. I would say that Beijing is trying to exploit the strained relations between Lien and Ma to its advantage. To me, it did not look like Lien was trying to create an opportunity for a proposed Ma-Xi meeting,” Wu said.
Responding to the issue before the party’s weekly Central Standing Committee meeting, DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said Lien’s view was his own and represented neither the KMT administration’s official position nor the opinion of Taiwanese.
The MAC responded to the Lien-Xi meeting in a press release yesterday, reiterating the Ma administration’s insistence that cross-strait relations would be promoted based on the foundation of “the [so-called] ‘1992 consensus’ and ‘one China with different interpretations (一中各表)’ initiative” and that the “status quo” would be maintained with “no unification, no independence and no use of force.”
The ministry called on Beijing to face reality so that bilateral relations could be further developed with mutual trust.
Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) lambasted Lien for saying that cross-strait relations are not international relations, saying Lien had betrayed the people of Taiwan in exchange for benefits to himself and his family.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as