Wednesday, April 20, 2011

DPP presidential hopefuls speak on cross-strait issues

Taipei, April 20 (CNA) Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen, one of three candidates in the opposition party's presidential primary, said Wednesday night that Taiwan should focus not only on its relations with China, but also with its other major partners.

In a 10-minute presentation in the last of four platform presentations, Tsai explained the concept of an "Oceanic Taiwan."

She said that Taiwan's location in the Western Pacific gives it an advantage of being surrounded by the major economies of the United States, China, Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Therefore, Taiwan should not pay attention only to China and ignore its other partners, Tsai said.

Taiwan has always been an "ocean economy" with people who have "oceanic characteristics," she said.

Tsai, 54, briefly touched on the issue in the first discussion April 9, saying that Taiwan should not sacrifice its national security for minor benefits from China. Taiwan should shape its relations with China under an "international and regional framework," instead of a bilateral one, she said at that time.

She reiterated the same view in her presentation Wednesday, saying that Taiwan would rather be "the center of the world" than "a frontier of China."

The current "China-leaning" administration of President Ma Ying-jeou is taking Taiwan in the latter direction, she said..

Tsai also said there was no "1992 Consensus" between Taiwan and China, and noted that the existence of the controversial agreement on "one-China, different interpretations" had been denied by previous Taiwan presidents and Taiwan's chief cross-strait negotiator.

"The concept lacks public support and is too weak to be the foundation of relations across the Taiwan Strait," she said.

The Ma administration and Beijing have both described the consensus as the basis of cross-strait ties.

Tsai had been accused by her detractors of shying away previously from the sensitive issue of China policy, arguably the most important topic in Taiwan's presidential election.

In his presentation, former Premier Su Tseng-chang expressed similar views on the issue, stressing that Taiwan should take a "hedged approach" in its exchanges with China to avoid the hidden instability behind China's economic rise.

The 63-year-old Su had said in a previous presentation that he hoped Taiwan would shine as a light that would show China the path towards democracy. He had also advocated that Taiwan improve its relations with the U.S., the European Union (EU) , Japan and other Asian countries so that it would not have to "face China on its own."

The third contender Hsu Hsin-liang, 69, called for a dramatically different policy toward China, saying that he if he is elected, he will allow a full-scale opening to Chinese investment, students and tourists.

The former DPP chairman had said previously that the "one-China" concept was "not that scary" and a "DPP with no historical baggage" would be in a better position to develop a discourse on Taiwan-China relations.

Following a national public opinion poll April 25-29, the DPP will decide in early May who will be its standard-bearer in the 2012 presidential election.

The previous sessions in the DPP series of discussions were held on April 9, 13 and 16. (By Chris Wang) enditem /pc