Taipei, Sept. 22 (CNA) Koo Kuan-min, former senior adviser to the president and a Taiwan independence advocate, said Saturday he envisions a policy shift on the Taiwan issue in China because peace will be at the top of China's national agenda over the next 15-20 years.
Koo, 81, also talked about Taiwan's relations with Japan and the United States in a speech delivered here, during which he talked about the characteristics of past and current political leaders in Taiwan.
China owes its current economic development to Taiwanese businessmen, who were the first ones to invest in China following the Tiananmen Square incident in 1989, Koo said. If China wants to transform itself into a superpower, it will need peace over the next 15-20 years to maintain its current economic boom, he added.
Koo claimed that any Chinese military action against Taiwan would scare away foreign investors which China desperately needs to maintain its economic growth. That is why China should not and will not attack Taiwan, he said.
He also said that the United States should actively make military deployments in Taiwan because of the island's strategic importance, pointing out that there are 100,000 U.S. troops deployed in various Asian countries, including Japan and South Korea.
Koo further said that communicating with the United States over the years has left him frustrated because the U.S. government refuses to abandon its "outdated" one-China policy. That is why he said he decided to appeal directly to the American people by placing advertisements explaining Taiwan's U.N. membership bid in the New York Times and the Washington Post earlier this month.
"The United States should display its determination in defending Taiwan's strategic importance, otherwise, the Taiwan Relations Act is just a piece of paper, " he stressed.
Koo, who lived in Japan from 1947-1972 as a political dissident, said Japan needs to recognize that the Taiwan issue is a part of its national security. "If Taiwan unifies with China or goes to war with it, this will definitely impact Japan's security interests in the East Asia," he said.