KMT chairman tells Washington Post current cross-strait policy in right direction

 KMT chairman tells Washington Post current cross-strait policy in right direction

                                               November 18, 2016

Kuomintang Chairman Eric Chu said the KMT must maintain its current cross-strait policy as it is a right thing that should be insisted on.

He also said the key difference between his and the opposition Democratic Progressive Party is that the latter is viewed as a pro-Taiwan independence party.

Chu, who is running in the 2016 presidential election, made the comments during an interview with the Washington Post while on a weeklong visit to the United States on November 13.

He said in the short run, Taiwanese public may not feel okay with what they view as too close the relations between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. “But it is still the right thing to do,” he said, referring to the recent summit between President Ma Ying-jeou and CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping and concern by some people in Taiwan that the KMT government is getting too close to mainland China.  

Given that it is the first time in 66 years for leaders of the two sides to meet, Chu said the summit is not only a historical moment for cross-strait relations, but is also a great achievement for both KMT party and administration to have pursued peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait in the past seven and a half years.

“Step by step at the beginning, we opened the window, the door, for cross-strait talks, then at the minister level, and now to the top leaders,” Chu told the Washington Post, adding “if our party is still the ruling one [after May 2016], the next step would be this kind of meeting becoming regular.”

On the difference between him and his DPP presidential opponent Tsai Ing-wen, Chu said while Tsai’s party is viewed as a pro-Taiwan independence party, Tsai herself also refuses to accept the “1992 consensus.”

“Our party thinks the 1992 consensus is a very important foundation for the past seven-and-a-half years of cross-strait relations,” Chu said, adding the consensus eased the tension between the two sides before 2008. “After 2008, we used this consensus to have peace and development and to open the door between the two sides,” Chu said.

Chu said if elected president for the next four to eight years, he would continue to open the door for the two sides to cooperate economically or in international spaces.

“If there is no consensus as the DPP says, what is the basis for the future?” Chu asked.

Chu said Tsai has kept saying she advocates maintaining the status quo across the Taiwan Strait, “but the status quo was made mainly by our party and President Ma Ying-jeou’s policies.”

He said Tsai is merely giving people some wishful thinking or a vision but no formula or no means to achieve. “It is just giving a slogan without the methodology or means,” Chu said, adding as a responsible stakeholder or responsible party leader or responsible presidential candidate, Tsai has the obligation to clearly “explain that to supporters and voters.”

For the KMT, Chu stressed his party believes it is also necessary for Taiwan to diversify its market though it is a right direction to pursue a stable and peaceful relations with mainland China. “We will not just rely on one market,” he said.  

He also said he has told supporters that he “will deal very carefully in developing relations with China.”

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