Beijing ‘concerned’ by KMT official saying party is mislabelled as ‘pro-China’
- Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman says the remarks ‘undermine mutual trust between the two sides and hurt the feelings of compatriots’
- With a presidential election looming, Kuomintang vice-chairman Andrew Hsia last month said it was wrong to call it the ‘unification party’
Chen Binhua, a spokesman for Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office, on Wednesday said mainland Chinese had also “expressed their dissatisfaction with such remarks, which undermine mutual trust between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait and hurt the feelings of compatriots on both sides”.
The remarks were made in late September, when KMT vice-chairman Andrew Hsia Li-yan told Taiwanese reporters that his party had been mislabelled by some Western media outlets as the “pro-China party” or “unification party”.
“We have always stressed that the KMT is a party that understands the importance of cross-strait relations,” Hsia said. “And we have the experience, ability, willingness and the political foundation to deal with cross-strait relations.”
Hsia has travelled to mainland China three times this year seeking more dialogue with officials.
On Wednesday, Chen from the Taiwan Affairs Office urged political parties on the island, including the KMT, to “safeguard the overall interests of the Chinese nation” and to push cross-strait relations “back onto the right track of peaceful development”.