The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is setting political thresholds that would hinder, if not make impossible, efforts by incoming president William Lai’s (賴清德) administration to initiate dialogue with China, experts said yesterday.
Citing comments by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華), Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said that the CCP was asking the impossible by demanding that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) set aside its Taiwanese independence stance.
Commenting on Lai’s inaugural address on Monday next week, Chen said that any Taiwanese party willing to recognize Beijing’s “one China” principle would face “no difficulties” when interacting with the CCP, adding that cross-strait dialogue is only possible if the DPP abandons its Taiwanese independence stance.
Photo: Screengrab from the Internet
Taiwanese independence cannot coexist with cross-strait peace, Chen said, adding that Beijing is adamant that Taiwan observe the “one China” principle and the so-called “1992 consensus” to promote peaceful cross-strait relations with the ultimate aim of unification.
The so-called “1992 consensus” — a term that former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted making up in 2000 — refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the CCP that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Wu said that the CCP’s demands were tailored to make it difficult for the DPP, and that China could very well demand that the KMT give up its claims that the Republic of China (ROC) is a sovereign state.
After all, the CCP considers the ROC defunct and its existence creates the “two Chinas” issue, he said.
Lai would never accept the “one China” principle, and his inaugural address would clarify how Taiwan would approach cross-strait relations based on Taiwanese sovereignty and the sovereignty of the ROC, he said.
Lai has also made it clear that any interaction with China would be based on the understanding that the nations are on equal footing, he added.
China’s actions over the past few years have left no room for the ROC’s interpretation of “one China” and that it willfully ignores Taiwan’s stance, Wu said.
If China insists on placing prerequisites on cross-strait dialogue, it is to blame for undermining cross-strait relations, he said.
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
Taiwan and Thailand have signed an agreement to promote and protect bilateral investment and trade, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) said on Friday. The agreement on “Promotion and Protection of Investments” was signed by Representative to Thailand Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) and Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei executive director Narong Boonsatheanwong on Thursday, the OTN said in a news release. Thailand has become the fifth trading partner to sign an investment agreement with Taiwan since 2016, following earlier agreements with the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Canada, the OTN said. The deal marks a significant milestone in the development of
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
FLU CONTINUES: Hospitals reported 101,091 visits for flu-like illnesses last week, while 68 severe cases and 16 flu-related deaths were also reported, the CDC said The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported 932 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 and 64 related deaths for last week, adding that the number of people who had contracted new SARS-CoV-2 subvariants KP.2 and LB.1 has increased. The number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 increased from 815 in the previous week to 932 last week, while 90 percent of the 64 deceased were aged 65 or older, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. JN.1 was still the dominant variant among local and imported cases in the past four weeks, while KP.2 was the second-most common, Lin said. Cases with the LB.1 subvariant