Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou said yesterday he was willing to meet Tsai Ing-wen, the chairwoman of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, to ease the deep political divide on the island.
“We hope to achieve political reconciliation domestically and for this I am willing to engage in dialogue with the opposition,” Mr. Ma said.
His comment - made in an opening address to an annual conference on overseas Chinese affairs - came after a series of mass protests by the DPP against the historic visit last week by top mainland negotiator Chen Yunlin and Mr. Ma’s mainland engagement policy.
Suspecting that Mr. Ma, of the Kuomintang, has tilted too far towards Beijing and would sell out Taiwan in the end, the DPP and other pro-independence groups staged a week of protests while Mr. Chen held talks and signed agreements in Taipei on direct daily flights, shipping, postal exchanges and food-safety co-operation. Two of the protests turned into violent clashes with police, with each side blaming the other.
At the weekend, Ms Tsai said she was willing to engage in dialogue with the government to ease social and political confrontations, which she said were disadvantageous to Taiwan. But she stressed that such dialogues would be made only under the conditions that the president safeguard Taiwan’s sovereignty and achieve domestic unity.
Yesterday, Ms Tsai added that not only was a dialogue between leaders necessary, but also wanted talks between the two camps in the legislature and in other areas. “We hope for President Ma to do his homework, like us, before the talking,” she said, referring to the DPP demand that in formulating his cross-strait policy, Mr. Ma must listen to voices of others rather than work out the policy unilaterally.
In response, Mr. Ma said he was willing to talk. “A country such as Taiwan needs external peace and internal unity in order to survive,” he said. In the wake of the global financial turmoil and economic slowdown, it was absolutely necessary for everyone in Taiwan to work together to overcome the difficulty, he said.
“Otherwise, it will only cause public resentment and even affect global assessments of Taiwan’s investment environment.”
He stressed he had complete respect for freedom of expression and the right of the people to stage protests. But “in holding any activity, we would never tolerate any violence regardless of the nature of the activity”, he said.
Mr. Ma said that, as president, it was his job to defend Taiwan’s sovereignty and safeguard its diplomatic allies.
This was why he had steadfastly promoted a cross-strait diplomatic truce, he said, so that the two sides could “reach an agreement with the other side in order not to woo away each other’s allies”.
Political analyst Chang Ling-cheng of National Taiwan University said that while a consensus between the two camps was needed, the violence last week could have been avoided if the Ma administration had better explained the purpose of Mr. Chen’s visit beforehand.
1 comment:
Ma hopes DPP talks will ease tensions
Taiwan’s leader offers dialogue to heal divide
Lawrence Chung in Taipei
11 November 2008
Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou said yesterday he was willing to meet Tsai Ing-wen, the chairwoman of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, to ease the deep political divide on the island.
“We hope to achieve political reconciliation domestically and for this I am willing to engage in dialogue with the opposition,” Mr. Ma said.
His comment - made in an opening address to an annual conference on overseas Chinese affairs - came after a series of mass protests by the DPP against the historic visit last week by top mainland negotiator Chen Yunlin and Mr. Ma’s mainland engagement policy.
Suspecting that Mr. Ma, of the Kuomintang, has tilted too far towards Beijing and would sell out Taiwan in the end, the DPP and other pro-independence groups staged a week of protests while Mr. Chen held talks and signed agreements in Taipei on direct daily flights, shipping, postal exchanges and food-safety co-operation. Two of the protests turned into violent clashes with police, with each side blaming the other.
At the weekend, Ms Tsai said she was willing to engage in dialogue with the government to ease social and political confrontations, which she said were disadvantageous to Taiwan. But she stressed that such dialogues would be made only under the conditions that the president safeguard Taiwan’s sovereignty and achieve domestic unity.
Yesterday, Ms Tsai added that not only was a dialogue between leaders necessary, but also wanted talks between the two camps in the legislature and in other areas. “We hope for President Ma to do his homework, like us, before the talking,” she said, referring to the DPP demand that in formulating his cross-strait policy, Mr. Ma must listen to voices of others rather than work out the policy unilaterally.
In response, Mr. Ma said he was willing to talk. “A country such as Taiwan needs external peace and internal unity in order to survive,” he said. In the wake of the global financial turmoil and economic slowdown, it was absolutely necessary for everyone in Taiwan to work together to overcome the difficulty, he said.
“Otherwise, it will only cause public resentment and even affect global assessments of Taiwan’s investment environment.”
He stressed he had complete respect for freedom of expression and the right of the people to stage protests. But “in holding any activity, we would never tolerate any violence regardless of the nature of the activity”, he said.
Mr. Ma said that, as president, it was his job to defend Taiwan’s sovereignty and safeguard its diplomatic allies.
This was why he had steadfastly promoted a cross-strait diplomatic truce, he said, so that the two sides could “reach an agreement with the other side in order not to woo away each other’s allies”.
Political analyst Chang Ling-cheng of National Taiwan University said that while a consensus between the two camps was needed, the violence last week could have been avoided if the Ma administration had better explained the purpose of Mr. Chen’s visit beforehand.
Post a Comment