No more ‘cold peace’ across Taiwan Strait: former KMT chairwoman calls to rebuild trust

he Kuomintang’s then-chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu with Communist Party leader Xi Jinping, in Beijing in 2016.

Photo: Xinhua The former chairwoman of Taiwan’s main opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), has called for cross-strait dialogue to break the state of “cold peace”, rebuild trust and avoid conflict. “The key to cross-strait relations lies not in radical confrontation, but in profound mutual trust,” Hung Hsiu-chu wrote on a popular mainland online platform on Thursday.

She also called for a return to the 1992 consensus, an unofficial agreement between Beijing and the then-ruling KMT in Taiwan.

It states that there is only one China but the two sides may disagree on what that refers to.

For Beijing, the consensus is the bedrock of relations across the Taiwan Strait.

Her social media post came days ahead of sitting KMT chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s visit to mainland China at the invitation of Beijing.

In her post on Thursday, Hung said the prevailing cross-strait tensions stemmed from eroding political trust, pressure from great power rivalry and intensifying military stand-offs – likening it to a “state of cold peace.” “Without institutional security arrangements, even the smallest friction could ignite a crisis,” she wrote. “Therefore, we need a politician who has vision and can shoulder responsibilities, in order to again find a long-lasting peaceful path for both sides.” Cross-strait tensions have spiralled since Taiwan’s independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party came to power in 2016.

Beijing has branded current Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te a separatist and stepped up military pressure around the island, while Lai rejects the 1992 consensus and insists that the two sides of the strait “are not subordinate to each other”.

Hung voiced support for Cheng’s mainland China visit, hoping it would “rebuild mutual trust” through revived cultural, educational and youth exchanges, boost industrial cooperation, and prompt the creation of crisis-management and regular dialogue mechanisms.

Cheng’s trip will last from April 7 to 12, with stops including Shanghai and Nanjing, according to both Beijing and the KMT.

It will be the first such visit by a sitting KMT chief since Hung’s own nearly 10 years ago.

Hung served as KMT chairwoman for just over a year between 2016 and 2017, and was briefly the party’s presidential candidate.

Hung met Communist Party leader Xi Jinping during her trip to Beijing and Nanjing in late 2016.

Cheng will also

原文链接: 南华早报