Taiwan’s participation in Beijing-proposed “democratic negotiations” is currently “not feasible,” said New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate, in an interview with the Asahi Shimbun.
Just before wrapping up his three-day visit to Japan, Hou was interviewed by reporters in Tokyo’s Hibiya Park on Wednesday after having breakfast with several members of Japan’s National Diet, including Keiji Furuya, chairman of the Japan-Republic of China Diet Members’ Consultative Council.
The prospect of war breaking out in the Taiwan Strait is the issue the Japanese lawmakers he met most cared about, Hou said.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Taiwan and China should start by de-escalating tensions, but any proposal the two sides engage in “democratic negotiations” is not feasible at present, he said.
The Chinese Communist Party has been inviting members of the more Chinese-friendly pan-blue political camp in Taiwan, who allegedly include a sitting lawmaker and a commissioner, to engage in the so-called “democratic negotiations” in China, some recent news reports said.
The agenda of such talks include topics aimed at undermining Taiwan’s sovereignty and its version of the “one country, two systems” framework to reassert the so-called “1992 consensus,” Mainland Affairs Council said.
In an interview with NHK, which aired on Tuesday night, Hou attributed frequent Chinese military activity in the Taiwan Strait to reduced contacts between the two sides which has eroded mutual trust.
Maintaining the “status quo” does not mean maintaining the “status quo” of impending war, but the “status quo” under former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) “no unification, no independence and no use of military force,” Hou said.
As a presidential candidate, his first responsibility is to avoid war and pursue peace on condition that Taiwan remains free and democratic, build up its defense capabilities and resume dialogue with China, Hou said.
“Only when there is stability in the Taiwan Strait and security for Taiwan can Japan have peace of mind,” he said.
While in Japan, the KMT presidential nominee met with 36 Japanese lawmakers, including Taro Aso, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Vice President, and Koichi Hagiuda, also of the LDP, who is widely viewed as a possible future prime minister of Japan.
Hou’s campaign office issued a statement on Wednesday afternoon saying he had pushed back announcing his energy policy to Wednesday next week due to coming down with a cold and successive typhoons.
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