First Step for Goodwill, Lifting Lockdown on Cross-Strait Exchanges

First Step for Goodwill, Lifting Lockdown on Cross-Strait Exchanges

China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

June 11, 2020

 Translation of an Excerpt

Speaking of the pandemic waves, Asia and Europe have already passed their peaks, and various countries have relaxed their controls one after another, hoping to allow economic and social life to return to normal. In contrast, Taiwan was very fast and strict in placing controls at first, but when the controls could be relaxed, it hesitated and delayed in making a resolute decision. Bailout money and revitalization coupons all the more elicited serious public grievances. The pandemic is like a disaster, impacting tens of thousands of livelihoods. After the disaster, it needs to be rebuilt as soon as possible, and cross-Strait exchanges are vitally related to Taiwan’s economy. Now that the Tsai government has completely controlled the political situation and the pro-independence faction has lost its influence, it should not continue to be trapped in cross-Strait confrontation, wasting time for people to make money.

Cross-Strait relations have become mired in tensions since the Tsai government came to power. Taiwan has elevated confrontation and been willing to be bullets for US President Trump to attack the Mainland. This has not only exacerbated cross-Strait relations, but has also resulted in the loss of our space for policy and future prospects in cross-Strait interactions. Now that the Mainland has encountered difficulties in the US-China conflict, the issue of Hong Kong, and accountability for the pandemic, and now that President Tsai Ing-wen has stepped on the brakes in the deep Green’s advocacies for constitutional reform, it indicates that she hopes to maintain cross-Strait stability. If we want to strive for the economy after the pandemic, we should proactively release goodwill to the Mainland, facilitating the travels of Taiwanese businessmen on the Mainland and Mainland students to Taiwan, and based on humanitarian grounds, letting children of Mainland spouses married to Taiwanese who were stranded in Wuhan return home. Goodwill stimulates goodwill and under benign interactions gradually restores cross-Strait communication. Only when there is a stable and peaceful environment conducive to economic and trade exchanges can Taiwan quickly rebuild.

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