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DPP does not reflect mainstream Taiwan, Beijing’s point man tells visiting industry group
- TAO director Song Tao says January election results show the island’s ruling party does not represent the Taiwanese public
- Song says the mainland will help Taiwanese businesses to share in the benefits of its economy
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Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) does not represent public opinion on the island and cannot change the shift towards unification, according to the head of Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO).
Addressing the first Taiwanese business group to visit the mainland since the DPP’s win in the presidential election last month, TAO director Song Tao told a delegation from the island’s electronics industry on Thursday that Beijing welcomed exchanges with any political party or organisation in Taiwan “as long as it is based on the one-China principle”.
“The election results have fully shown that DPP did not represent the island, nor did it represent the mainstream public opinion of Taiwan,” Hong Kong-headquartered Phoenix Television quoted Song as saying.
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“The DPP remains in power but it will not change the basic pattern and direction of cross-strait relations … and it cannot prevent the historical trend of the reunification of the two sides,” he said, according to a TAO statement.
The DPP’s Tsai Ing-wen has refused to acknowledge the one-China principle since becoming president eight years ago, a policy her successor, William Lai Ching-te, is expected to continue.
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Lai secured an unprecedented third consecutive presidential term for the DPP in the January 13 election with 40 per cent of the vote, the second-lowest winning share of the vote for an elected president since 1996.
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