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China experts urge Beijing to revive communication with Taiwan to avoid ‘miscalculation’
- The recommendation comes as cross-strait tensions are expected to rise following William Lai Ching-te’s victory in the island’s presidential election
- Official communication channels could be restored with help of ‘trusted intermediaries’, says Washington’s former de facto envoy to Taipei
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Sylvie Zhuangin Beijing
Leading China observers urged Beijing to reopen communication channels with Taipei to avoid miscalculation as cross-strait tensions are expected to rise following William Lai Ching-te’s victory in Taiwan’s presidential election on Saturday.
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During a digital seminar hosted by the think tank Centre for Globalisation Hong Kong on Friday, Bonnie Glaser, managing director of the Indo-Pacific programme at the Washington-based German Marshall Fund, called on Beijing to revive communications with Taipei.
“I think that the absence of direct communication results in misunderstanding, misperceptions and potentially miscalculation,” Glaser said.
She urged Beijing to “listen to what Lai says and his inaugural address, observe his actions as a president and judge him by his statements and his actions going forward”, adding that it would be “unreasonable” for Beijing to draw a “hard and fast” assessment of Lai based on his past behaviour.
Beijing cut off official communication with Taipei soon after incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was first elected in 2016 and refused to accept the “1992 consensus” – an unofficial understanding that there is only one China, though the two sides may disagree about what that means.
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