Taiwan will not ‘bow to pressure from the mainland’ but seeks to maintain peace
President takes conciliatory tone in National Day speech ahead of Communist Party congress, saying she will maintain commitment to cross-strait status quo
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said the old path of confrontation was over and vowed to maintain her commitment to the cross-strait status quo in a carefully worded National Day address on Tuesday that avoided provoking Beijing ahead of its party congress next week.
Tsai, of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), also reiterated her message of a year ago that “we will not change our goodwill, our commitments, nor will we revert to the old path of confrontation”.
But she again said the island would not bow to pressure from the mainland, referring to Beijing’s suspension of cross-strait talks and exchanges, and luring away two of its allies – Sao Tome and Principe, and Panama – to force her to accept the “1992 consensus” and its “one China” principle.
Beijing, which considers Taiwan a wayward province subject to eventual union, by force if necessary, has insisted that Tsai – who took power from the Kuomintang to become the island’s president in May last year – accept the consensus, which it sees as the political foundation for cross-strait relations.
The consensus is an understanding reached in 1992 to allow the two sides to continue talks as long as they agree that there is only one China, though each can have its own meaning of what that stands for. Tsai’s refusal to acknowledge the consensus has been a sticking point since she took office.