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KMT's win does not represent loss of Taiwan-centric line: MAC

ROC Central News Agency

2008-04-18 13:40:30

    New York, April 17 (CNA) The decisive victory of the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) in the March 22 presidential election represented a victory for everyone in Taiwan but not a defeat of the Taiwan-centric political line, a high-ranking Taiwanese official said Thursday at the Taiwanese American Center in New York. "Taiwanese identity and Taiwan-centric consciousness have become a consensus and common language in the country since the election, " said Tung Chen-yuan, vice chairman of the Cabinet-level Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) , who is currently on a speaking tour of the United States. "The KMT owed its victory partly to its tilting toward the Taiwan-centric advocacy that has been championed by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)," Tung said.

    Tung said the contributions that outgoing President Chen Shui-bian has made in deepening Taiwan's democratization and consolidating the Taiwanese identity are historically undeniable. "Chen's efforts have altered the mode of cross-strait relations development and have also created strategic maneuvering space between the two sides," he went on.

    Meanwhile, Tung said, the Beijing leadership has ceaselessly adjusted its Taiwan policies and is "still adjusting, " which he said indicates that Beijing has also been unable to free itself from the impact of Taiwan's democratic development.

    Noting that Taiwan's democracy is a core asset in cross-strait relations and the bottom line of cross-strait negotiations, Tung said Beijing has had no other options but to adjust its stance in the face of Taiwan's democratic progress.

    He said that although Beijing has never openly acknowledged the notion that "there is only one China but both sides could interpret the meaning separately, " its stance seems to have changed, according to a March 26 telephone dialogue between U.S. President George W. Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao.

    According to a Beijing-based Xinhua News Agency English-language report on Hu's conversation with Bush, Hu said "it is China's consistent stand that the Chinese mainland and Taiwan should restore consultation and talks on the basis of `the 1992 consensus, ' under which "both sides recognize that there is only one China, but agree to differ on its definition."

    Hu's remarks show that China in a sense will change and will accept the "One China, differing definitions" notion, Tung said, adding that should China anticipate any progress in political engagement across the strait, it must face squarely the fact of the Republic of China's existence on Taiwan.

    He also said that Taiwan cannot afford not to know China better, given that China is an enemy and Taiwan's closest neighbor.

    Tung suggested that cross-strait relations should be developed under a "triangular, two-tier" framework -- taking opinions of both Taiwan, China and the rest of the world into account, while heeding the wills of the people on either side of the strait.

(By Jaw-pyng Hwang and Deborah Kuo)

ENDITEM/J