Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Andrew Hsia (夏立言) headed to China again on Wednesday and is scheduled to stay for more than two weeks, media reports said. As the presidential election is less than one month away, it is strange that a party grandee such as Hsia is traveling to China instead of staying to help with the campaign or to help its KMT presidential ticket to prepare and overcome their weakness on foreign policy. This had people wondering what could be so important that Hsia needs to leave the battlefield at such a critical moment.
When Hsia was interviewed by the media in October, he said that the KMT has been mislabeled as a pro-China party. The remark has drawn ire from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO), which said his remarks “undermine mutual trust and hurt the feelings of compatriots.”
In contrast, the very same Hsia accused of hurting mutual trust and feelings was two months later allowed to stay in Beijing for two weeks. Something must have happened in between.
To step up on election interference, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Politburo Standing Committee member Wang Huning (王滬寧) held a meeting earlier this month to “coordinate” the Chinese government efforts, intelligence gathered by Taipei has shown. Members working for the CCP always follow orders given from the upper echelons. To evade responsibility, frontline party members only carry out orders when their superiors give them the green light. Under such circumstances, Hsia’s trip this time could have a lot to do with Wang, who is adept at employing “united front” tactics.
If Hsia has nothing to hide about his trip to China, he could have announced the trip to the public in advance instead of letting the media break the news. His secrecy only indicates that something fishy is going on.
Huang Wei-ping is a former think tank researcher and a Kaohsiung resident.
Translated by Rita Wang
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