By Chris Wang / Staff Reporter
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday that it is willing to push for a closer engagement with Beijing “under the precondition that no political preconditions or barriers are set.”
“Bilateral engagement without political preconditions and barriers would be conducive to the peaceful development of cross-strait relations,” DPP spokesperson Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) said.
Lo’s comments were in response to remarks by Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Fan Liqing (范麗青), who said on Wednesday that while Beijing welcomed visits by lower-ranking DPP officials and party members, it opposed the party’s support for Taiwanese independence and ideas such as “one country on each side of the Taiwan Strait.”
Contrary to what most people think, Lo said, the DPP always supported normal exchanges across the Strait and it understands the importance of people-to-people interaction.
However, sincerity, respect and engagement without preconditions would be imperative in any DPP engagement with China.
Discussion of closer engagement with China, in particular an increase in the number of visits to the country, arose after former DPP chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said the party should try to better understand China and increase bilateral interaction in her review of the party’s presidential election loss in January.
Greater Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), who took over as acting chairperson of the party yesterday, also pledged to increase communication with Beijing, calling for China to stop “engaging with only one specific political party in Taiwan.”
Increased engagement with Chinese officials and civic groups would be beneficial for the party, DPP Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said yesterday.
However, those interactions should happen only after a mechanism or a system of engagement has been established, so that the party can accumulate knowledge of China.