China has warned Taiwan against pursuing independence, just hours after the island’s first female president was sworn into office Friday.
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“Cross-strait relations have become an integral part of building regional peace and collective security”, she told thousands of people gathered outside the Ching-kuo Hall in Taiwan.
The 59-year-old former law professor, dressed in a beige jacket and black trousers, took the presidential oath in front of the Taiwanese flag, beneath a portrait of China’s founding father, Sun Yat-sen, at Taipei’s Ching-kuo Hall.
“The government of Tsai’s predecessor Ma Ying-jeou repeatedly endorsed the one-China principle and what China calls the “’92 consensus”.
Chang called on Tsai and the DPP to shed their elusive approach to the 1992 Consensus, change their stance on Taiwan independence, and to refrain from creating confrontation that may endanger the people of Taiwan. That understanding formed the basis of the warming ties between the Kuomintang (KMT) in Taiwan and the Chinese Communist Party over the past eight years.
Since then, relations between China and Taiwan have been strained, as China refuses to recognize Taiwan as a separate and independent political and diplomatic entity. China sees Taiwan as a breakaway province, which it has threatened to take back by force if necessary.
Chinese officials have indicated they want Ms Tsai to accept the so-called 1992 Consensus that Taiwan and the mainland are part of one China, each side with its own interpretation of what that means.
Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan’s incoming president, waves during her inauguration ceremony on Friday.
While it may be too early to gauge the response of China, which claims the self-governing island as its own territory, Tsai’s presidency introduces new uncertainty in a region already beset by tensions over the South China Sea, North Korea’s nuclear program and China’s jousting with the USA for strategic dominance.
Talks in that year marked the renewal of dialogue between the Chinese Communist Party and the Nationalist Party, which fled the mainland for Taiwan in 1949 amid civil war.
Although she was given a strong mandate in the January elections, with her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) gaining control of the executive and legislative branches of government, a souring relationship with Beijing could undermine her ability to accomplish what she has set out to do at home.
“We will work to maintain peace and stability in cross-Strait relations”.
THE Chinese mainland remains as determined as ever to uphold national sovereignty and territorial integrity, the mainland Taiwan affairs authority said yesterday.
“The communications mechanism between the two departments can only continue if the “92 consensus”, which represents the common political foundation of the One China principle, is adhered to”, Xinhua quoted Ma as saying.
Ms Tsai has said she will maintain the status quo, but did not refer to “one China” in her speech.
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Liu Guoshen, director of Xiamen University’s Taiwan Research Institute, praised Tsai’s address as a mild and practical speech.
