QUESTIONS OF TIMING: Beijing arranging for Cheng’s visit amid stalled defense budget talks raised concerns the KMT was trading favors with China, the DPP said
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By Chen Yu-fu and Chen Yun / Staff reporters
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The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday urged Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) to take the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) pressure and coercion against Taiwan seriously, avoid endorsing its political agenda and steer clear of its “united front” tactics aimed at sowing division.
The council issued the statement after the KMT and China’s state-run Xinhua news agency said that Cheng had accepted an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to visit China next week.
The CCP’s ambition to eliminate the Republic of China (ROC) and annex Taiwan would not change, regardless of any exchanges with Taiwanese parties or individuals, the MAC said.
Taiwanese flags are positioned behind a podium at the Mainland Affairs Council in Taipei in an undated photograph.
Photo: Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times
The agency also said that no group is authorized to negotiate political agreements with China or involve matters tied to government authority without official approval.
“We can aspire to peace, but we should not harbor illusions,” it said. “If peace is based solely on the goodwill of the CCP’s leadership, it would pose the greatest risk to Taiwan.”
Whether Cheng’s visit to China would include a meeting with Xi would only be known at the end of the trip, as the Beijing portion of the visit is scheduled for the final day, an official familiar with cross-strait affairs said.
Based on the CCP’s handling of other trips, a visitor must perform well in the early stages of their visit before being allowed to meet high-level officials on the last day, said the official, who declined to be named.
By arranging Cheng’s visit to China ahead of Xi’s meeting with US President Donald Trump, Beijing was signaling that “the CCP has already secured the KMT” and might be using the visit to influence the Trump-Xi summit, the source said.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) criticized opposition lawmakers led by the KMT for blocking and obstructing the Executive Yuan’s proposed NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.07 billion) special defense budget.
Beijing arranging for Cheng to visit amid stalled talks on the budget raised concerns that it is an attempt to “trade defense procurement for a Cheng-Xi meeting,” it said.
Cheng yesterday said that “the whole world follows a ‘one China’ policy and does not support Taiwanese independence, a consensus that reflects the expectations of Taiwan’s mainstream public opinion.”
DPP Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) criticized the statement, saying it mirrored those of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office.
“The consensus of Taiwanese is that the ROC and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other,” Lin said.
DPP policy committee executive director Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) added that in pursuit of a meeting with Xi, Cheng is willing to say anything.
Additional reporting by Lee Wen-hsin
