In Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen’s cross-strait take plays well
- Her National Day remarks could boost the chances of her pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party retaining power after she steps down in 2024, analysts say
- Beijing accuses her of reviving DPP’s ‘two-state theory’, which it called an ‘evil intention of splitting the country’
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s recent description of the island and the Chinese mainland as two unrelated entities – highly provocative to Beijing – could be a big booster for her pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party to retain power after she steps down in 2024, analysts said.
In a speech last Sunday on National Day, marking the 110th anniversary of the foundation of the Republic of China – which Taiwan’s government uses as an official title – Tsai said that the self-ruled island and the mainland should not be “subordinate to each other”.
She also said that Taiwan must “resist annexation or encroachment upon our sovereignty” and stressed that “the future of the ROC must be decided in accordance with the will of the Taiwanese people”.
Beijing immediately assailed her remarks as a blatant revival of the “two-state theory” – introduced in 1999 by Taiwan’s then-president Lee Teng-hui to classify cross-strait affairs as “special state-to-state” relations.
Tsai was reportedly the principal drafter in 1999 of the controversial theory, which calls for Taipei and Beijing to be treated equally. Beijing, which sees Taiwan as a rogue province that must eventually reunite with the mainland, by force if necessary, considers it a deliberate provocation.