Foundation of Mutual Trust Between DPP and CCP Reduced to Zero, Signaling Danger!

  Foundation of Mutual Trust Between DPP and CCP Reduced to Zero, Signaling Danger!

China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

April 15, 2019

 Translation of an Excerpt

The Association for the Promotion of Reunification invited Li Yi to take part in the "Forum on the Development of Peaceful Reunification and Integration," but on the eve of the forum, Li Yi was repatriated by the National Immigration Administration on the grounds that his visit “was not in conformity with the purpose in the permission." The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) pointed out that Li Yi had come to Taiwan several times and had issued “statements on reunification by military force,” which was not acceptable to society in Taiwan. Premier Su Tseng-chang straight-forwardly stated that "letting him go quickly was what should have been done."

In the 2016 presidential campaign, Li Yi first came to Taiwan to observe the election; in 2017, he visited Taiwan for a second time, participating in a cross-Strait summit forum; last yearend, he came to Taiwan a third time for the nine-in-one local elections. Li published a book, revealing that he had had contacts and talks with the China Affairs Department of the DPP, and that the DPP also introduced him to a professor of National Taiwan Normal University to have deeper talks, a summary of which was submitted to the Taiwan Affairs Office under the State Council and the Central Military Commission.

Li Yi is not an official involved in Taiwan affairs, nor is he a think tank member involved in Taiwan affairs, but an ordinary Mainland scholar living in the United States; the DPP government earlier allowed him in, engaging in dialogue and exchanges with him, signifying that the DPP was still hoping to maintain relations of communication and dialogue with the Mainland. However, after the electoral campaign started, the MAC began to strictly review academic exchanges and activities of think tanks and universities with the Mainland. After the cross-Strait track-three communication was halted, DPP-CCP relations would accelerate their deterioration. This time, the Tsai government suddenly made an about-face, repatriating Li Yi; it not only escalated its hostile stance against the Mainland, but it would also halt the debilitated channels for information transmission with Beijing. The mutual trust between the DPP and the CCP no longer exists, reducing relations of interaction to zero; it would be very perilous for Taiwan.

President Tsai is now facing the challenge of former Premier Lai Ching-te; under the pressure of an unbearable loss, she is even more inclined to make statements with heavy seasoning, seeking the attention and support of the pan-Green camp. However, President Tsai ought not to consider cross-Strait issues as an elixir for her re-nomination in the party primary; she must stop manipulating confrontation between reunification and independence forces. Ossified anti-China propaganda not only would fail to win popular identification, but would instead escalate the crisis in the Taiwan Strait, which would be even more disadvantageous for Taiwan’s situation, both domestic and external.

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