Taiwan president says ‘peace is the only option’, as Tsai Ing-wen eyes legacy
- In Taiwan National Day speech, the island’s president calls on Beijing to craft a ‘mutually acceptable foundation’ for a path to ‘peaceful coexistence’
- Conciliatory tone is an effort to ease hostilities before Tsai steps down next year, analysts say
The overture appeared to be a move to secure cross-strait peace as part of Tsai’s political legacy after she leaves office, analysts said. Taiwan has a two-term presidential limit.
“Since 2016, my administration has kept its promises and maintained the status quo,” Tsai told a rally marking an uprising that began on October 10, 1911, which eventually ended the Qing dynasty on the mainland and ushered in the Republic of China (ROC), Taiwan’s official name.
In her inauguration speech in 2016, Tsai vowed to maintain the cross-strait status quo to secure regional peace. She also pledged to conduct cross-strait affairs in line with the island’s “Republic of China constitution” – an apparent effort to ease anxieties in Beijing that her independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government would declare a formal split between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Most countries, including the United States, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but are opposed to any unilateral change of the cross-strait status quo by force.
02:36
Mainland China launches military drill near Taiwan in ‘severe warning to separatist forces’