A semi-official meeting between US and Chinese representatives earlier this month exposed how wide the gap is in how they gauge developments in cross-strait relations, the conference report released on Thursday showed.
During the annual Forum on Asia-Pacific Security, which is held by the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, experts from the two countries had different takes on who is responsible for the gridlock in ties between Taiwan and China over the past two years.
Several Chinese speakers at the meeting in New York on June 4 and June 5 said that the fundamental cause of rising cross-strait tensions was that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has “damaged the political basis” of the relationship that existed under former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
China believes that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is still determined to achieve formal independence, the Chinese speakers said, adding that pro-independence forces in Taiwan have become even “more brazen” of late.
US experts recommended that Beijing find a way to resume dialogue to prevent further deterioration in cross-strait relations.
However, Chinese participants said that Taiwan’s acceptance of a “constitutional one China” formula is not enough to satisfy Beijing.
Tsai will need to start by at least indicating in some way that cross-strait relations are “not state-to-state” relations, they said.
With respect to new formulas or “off-ramps” to reopen talks, they added that such negotiations would have to be conducted by unofficial, but authoritative persons through secret channels.
However, no one knows whether such channels remain, they said.
Chinese participants also said that Tsai appears unable and unwilling to re-establish cross-strait dialogue.
Tsai has been promoting formal independence not only through her words, but also through her actions, they said, citing her appointment in September last year of Premier William Lai (賴清德), who has told the Legislative Yuan that he is a “pro-independence worker.”
The Chinese also voiced concerns about the US’ deepening ties with Taiwan, including proposing measures to strengthen military cooperation and promote high-level exchanges with Taiwan.
The US is sending the wrong signal to Taiwan and emboldening its pro-independence forces, they said, adding that such actions would harm not only US-China relations, but also the interests of Taiwan.
US speakers said that Washington’s latest measures have been relatively restrained and “not as significant as China sees them.”
China’s aggressive military and diplomatic actions have strengthened the DPP’s position, they said.
Those moves include more frequent aerial and naval patrols in closer proximity to Taiwan, and pushing five of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies to switch recognition to Beijing over the past two years.
Such actions have influenced views in Taiwan, but also in the US, where they are viewed as “unreasonable” and “bullying,” US participants said.
The US sees Tsai as pragmatic and committed to maintaining the “status quo,” even though Beijing might see her as a “committed separatist,” they said.
The meeting was attended by senior officials, including US Department of State Office of Taiwan Coordination Director James Heller and China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Vice Minister Chen Yuanfeng (陳元豐).
On the non-governmental side, participants included Pacific Century Institute president Raymond Burghardt and Peking University School of International Studies dean Jia Qingguo (賈慶國).
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
REVENGE TRAVEL: A surge in ticket prices should ease this year, but inflation would likely keep tickets at a higher price than before the pandemic Scoot is to offer six additional flights between Singapore and Northeast Asia, with all routes transiting Taipei from April 1, as the budget airline continues to resume operations that were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Scoot official said on Thursday. Vice president of sales Lee Yong Sin (李榮新) said at a gathering with reporters in Taipei that the number of flights from Singapore to Japan and South Korea with a stop in Taiwan would increase from 15 to 21 each week. That change means the number of the Singapore-Taiwan-Tokyo flights per week would increase from seven to 12, while Singapore-Taiwan-Seoul
POOR PREPARATION: Cultures can form on food that is out of refrigeration for too long and cooking does not reliably neutralize their toxins, an epidemiologist said Medical professionals yesterday said that suspected food poisoning deaths revolving around a restaurant at Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 Store in Taipei could have been caused by one of several types of bacterium. Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an epidemiologist at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, wrote on Facebook that the death of a 39-year-old customer of the restaurant suggests the toxin involved was either “highly potent or present in massive large quantities.” People who ate at the restaurant showed symptoms within hours of consuming the food, suggesting that the poisoning resulted from contamination by a toxin and not infection of the
BAD NEIGHBORS: China took fourth place among countries spreading disinformation, with Hong Kong being used as a hub to spread propaganda, a V-Dem study found Taiwan has been rated as the country most affected by disinformation for the 11th consecutive year in a study by the global research project Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). The nation continues to be a target of disinformation originating from China, and Hong Kong is increasingly being used as a base from which to disseminate that disinformation, the report said. After Taiwan, Latvia and Palestine ranked second and third respectively, while Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela and China, in that order, were the countries that spread the most disinformation, the report said. Each country listed in the report was given a score,