It’s Still Necessary to Leave Room for the DPP to Make Adjustments

  It’s Still Necessary to Leave Room for the DPP to Make Adjustments

China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

March 8, 2018

 Translation of an Excerpt

Mainland Premier Li Keqiang, in his government work report to the two Congresses, once again reiterated that the Mainland would push for the development of cross-Strait relations on the basis of the "1992 Consensus"; he also pledged to continue expanding cross-Strait economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation. Not long ago, the Mainland's Taiwan Affairs Office and the Politburo Standing Committee member in charge of development and reform, in conjunction with 29 other ministries, announced 31 measures for further promoting cross-Strait economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation. The Mainland's Taiwan policy framework is already quite clear and certain, being softer in the soft area, tougher in the tougher area.

The so-called tougher in the tougher area mainly reflects jettisoning the strategy of using "consultations in parity” for cross-Strait interactions and adopting, in turn, a one-way reunification policy. Under the advantageous conditions of rapid rise and vast hinterland, the more open to Taiwan on the part of the Mainland, the stronger the magnetic effect will be, realizing cross-Strait harmonious integration on the Mainland soil, and the greater the possibility of success for constructing a cross-Strait community of shared destiny. This also indicates that the Mainland, on questions of principles and stances, will not make concessions to Taiwan, nor any easing on the insistence for the "1992 Consensus." The "constructive ambiguity" that has maintained cross-Strait interchanges will be superseded by "strategic clarity"; the Tsai Ing-wen government has to either yield, or move toward confrontation, with no buffer of ambiguity.

If the Mainland wants to push for a meeting of the minds of cross-Strait compatriots, it cannot simply seek that, from the economic level, the people in Taiwan vote with their feet, it must also recognize the importance of shortening the distance between the people’s hearts across the Strait. The Mainland, of course, should insist on fundamental principles and stances, but it must also leave certain room for Taiwan. After all, the political dilemma across the Strait cannot be resolved overnight, it is necessary to gradually dissolve from the cultural and emotional levels, so as to cultivate the necessary friendly atmospherics for cross-Strait political thawing. Moreover, Taiwan has its own internal problems needing urgent solutions, while divergences in national identity and the question of communal group divide also needs time for gradual resolution.

Attachment : none