KMT chief plays both sides in visit to Nanjing
Chairwoman of opposition Taiwanese party tries to please hosts, and allay fears at home that she is too Beijing-friendly
Taiwan’s Kuomintang chairwoman, Hung Hsiu-chu, paid her respects to the founder of modern China, Dr Sun Yat-sen, at his mausoleum in Nanjing on Monday, in a widely watched speech designed to placate people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
In her first visit to Nanjing as the KMT leader, Hung managed to refer to Taiwan as the Republic of China, to calm her opponents on the island. She also appeased the mainland by calling for people on both sides of the strait to work for a “Chinese renaissance” – a phrase often used by mainland leaders to woo the Taiwanese.
Cheered on by a large crowd, Hung climbed more than 390 steps to Sun’s mausoleum.
Shouts like “KMT, go, go, go,” “Chairperson Hung, the 1.3 billion people in Taiwan and the mainland support you” and “Taiwan and the mainland are one family” were heard throughout an hour-long video clip posted on Hung’s Facebook page.
As an out-of-breath Hung reached the mausoleum, her aide read an oration honouring Sun. Hung later led the visiting delegation in presenting a wreath at the mausoleum, bowing before Sun’s statue and observing one minute of silence. “Dr Sun … eventually overthrew the Manchu dynasty to establish the Republic of China,” Hung said, uttering the words designed to placate her opponents in Taiwan.
The mausoleum ceremony was part of a five-day mainland visit in which she is scheduled to meet President Xi Jinping on Tuesday in his capacity as general secretary of the Communist Party.