NO NEGOTIATIONS:Tsai Ing-wen said the president had ‘ambushed’ and ‘bullied’ the opposition parties by making decisions on the country’s status in private
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday urged President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to reverse his “one country, two areas” (一國兩區) proposal, which she referred to as a “policy that would cause instability and misery to the country.”
The proposal, brought up by former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) in his meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) in Beijing on Thursday last week, is dangerous, Tsai said in a press release.
“It is dangerous because the KMT has not been able to explain the difference between the Republic of China [ROC] and the People’s Republic of China [PRC], but it recognizes the ‘one China’ principle,” she said.
It would be difficult for the international community not to assume that Taiwan has accepted that it is part of China, which for most countries is represented by the PRC, she said.
Tsai accused Ma of “bullying” and “ambushing” opposition parties and the public by announcing major policies and making decisions on the status of the country in private.
While Ma and his party reiterated that the proposal is in line with the Constitution and the Act Governing Relations Between the Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), Tsai said the latter is a domestic law that should not be used to interpret Taiwan’s political status.
“A domestic law is one thing, making concessions on Beijing’s ‘one China’ principle is another,” Tsai said, adding that even if Ma intends to make concessions, he would have to reach consensus with the opposition parties.