A Debate on Taiwan Independence Party Platform Will Make Cross-Strait Path Broader

 A Debate on Taiwan Independence Party Platform Will Make Cross-Strait Path Broader

China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)

April 30, 2017

 Translation of an Except

Tsai Ying-wen granted an exclusive interview with Reuters, saying she hoped to have the opportunity to talk over the phone with US President Trump again, but it was met with a cold response from Trump. Although it may not represent that Taiwan-US relations have been downgraded, it is sufficient to show that Tsai Ying-wen’s strategy of hoping to form an "alliance of values systems" with the United States failed. Cross-Strait relations are now situated at a crucial turning point of safety and peril; the Tsai Ying-wen government should use new thinking to erect its own new pragmatism. In other words, besides persisting against all odds for changes to come, Tsai Ying-wen should seek out other strategies allowing Taiwan to realize at an early date domestic reconciliation, economic transformation, and cross-Strait reciprocity and mutual assistance.

The DPP, from the Tangwai (outside of the party) era, to the early days of its founding, to the return to power, has also, in order to cope with the needs of various periods, introduced different political party papers in its Party National Congress. From the "Taiwan Independence Party Platform," to the "Resolution on Taiwan's Future,” to the "Resolution on a Normal State,” the DPP has only adjusted its phrasings and never changed its pursuit of Taiwan independence; furthermore, it refused to adjust its corresponding public policies.

The United States and China, whether in order to resolve the North Korean question, or trade, the South China Sea and other questions, have used consultations in lieu of confrontations, and the pursuit of win-win situations. Now that China has broken through the first island chain, Taiwan's strategic position is no longer what it used to be; the longer the cross-Strait deadlock drags on, mutual trust will become even thinner and changes for the better would become even more difficult. The DPP, in insisting not to recognize the 1992 Consensus, may end up gradually losing its bargaining chips, sitting idly by to watch pressure from the other side quickly accumulate. Can the DPP really have no feelings towards this reality that lies before its own eyes?

The Tsai government will be in office for a full year; the dissatisfaction rating in public opinion polls has reached 60 percent; changes have to be made. The DPP is going to hold its Party National Congress in July on the eve of the opening of Beijing’s 19^th National People’s Congress; Tsai Ying-wen should courageously lead the DPP in walking out of the cellar of ideologies and launch an intra-party debate on whether to revise the "Taiwan Independence Party Platform" proposing instead pragmatic and feasible cross-Strait policy to allow the normalization of cross-Strait relations to guide Taiwan on a normal path.

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