Hung Hsiu-Chu to Co-Preside over KMT-CCP Forum in Late October

 Hung Hsiu-Chu to Co-Preside over KMT-CCP Forum in Late October

Source: All Taipei Newspapers

Sep. 01, 2016

Official cross-Strait exchanges have been suspended since the DPP took power on May 20. Therefore, whether the Cross-Strait Economic, Trade and Cultural Forum (KMT-CCP Forum) would be held in Mainland China this year has become a focus of public attention. During an exclusive interview with the Taipei-based ChinaTimes (中國時報) yesterday, KMT Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) stated that the KMT-CCP Forum would be scheduled for late October or early November, adding that she planned to co-preside over the meeting as head of the KMT delegation. The KMT would announce further details after everything was finalized.    

 When asked whether she would meet with CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping (習近平), Hung stated that she would go with flow and follow past practices.

 On May 4, 2015, former KMT chairman Eric Chu met with Xi Jinping in Beijing following the conclusion of the KMT-CCP Forum in Shanghai. This was the first time that KMT and CCP leaders met after Xi Jinping took office.  

 After the KMT took power in 2008, then KMT chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) attended the delegation to the KMT-CCP Forum in 2008 and 2009 in his capacity as chairman. After then President Ma Ying-jeou doubled as KMT chairman in late 2009, Wu attended the forum in the capacity of honorary KMT chairman from 2010 to 2013.

 After the KMT lost power in the general elections early this year, then KMT secretary general Lee Shu-chuan (李四川) submitted a report on party reforms to Hung before stepping down. On cross-Strait policies, Lee clearly recommended that in the future the large-scale cross-Strait Economic, Trade, and Culture Forum should be suspended. Instead, both sides should engage in exchanges and two-way communication to conduct substantive consultations on cross-Strait issues so as to gain support from the public and avoid giving outsiders the impression that the KMT was throwing lavish parties. However, after she was sworn in as chairwoman on March 30, Hung decided to continue holding the forum and just review some facets that needed improvement.    

 During yesterday’s interview, Hung stated that the format and agenda of the KMT-CCP Forum still needed to be hammered out, adding that the forum may focus on youth, cross-Strait exchanges, economics, and social issues, with a more pragmatic and limited scope

 When asked whether she was worried that she would be labeled as “pro-China,” Hung stated that the KMT had created a great deal of cross-Strait dividends and promoted Taiwan’s prosperity, but it was unfairly criticized as “selling out” Taiwan. On the contrary, the DPP, though professing they love Taiwan, after just 100 days in office, [Taiping] Island was downgraded to the status of a rock [in accordance with the PCA adjudication], “So who really sold out Taiwan?” “We could even say that nothing whatsoever had been done in an aggressive manner to safeguard our sovereignty,” Hung added.     

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