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Mixed reactions to Wang's new cross-strait formula
Courtesy of ICRT
The DPP and the KMT are divided on their reactions to former Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng's proposal for a new cross-strait formula.
Wang announced his narrative this past weekend - saying it's based on “separate governance without division” between Taiwan and China. Wang said his proposal acknowledges the reality that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are governed separately while "pragmatically" keeping avenues open for fostering peaceful relations.
KMT Chairman Eric Chu says Wang's proposal is intended to promote cross-strait peace - to allow for cross-strait exchanges and dialogue based on existing foundations - and the KMT both supports and approves of that.
However, Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung says "Taiwan is a sovereign, independent, democratic country" and "trying to separate sovereignty from the right to govern makes it easy to fall into a dispute over terms" while the DPP is simply reiterating a willingness to engage with Beijing on the basis of the "four commitments" proposed by former President Tsai Ing-wen in 2021, and later reaffirmed by President Lai Ching-te.
In other cross-strait news, the 2024 Cross-Strait CEO Summit has kicked off in the Chinese city of Xiamen. The two-day event began on Monday and wraps-up later today at the Xiamen International Conference & Exhibition Center.
Former premier Liu Chao-shiuan addressed the event on Monday - saying the decline in bilateral cross-strait trade and investment in recent years is "worth a high degree of our attention" and industries on both sides of the Taiwan Strait need to take a niche-based approach and explore cooperation possibilities in a few select fields such as new energy vehicles, smart manufacturing, industrial internet of things and the green economy.
Liu also held talks with Song Tao, the director of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, on the sidelines of the event. He was accompanied at that meeting by former economic ministers Steve Chen, Yin Chi-ming, Inventec chairman Richard Lee and General Chamber of Commerce of the Republic of China chairman Hsu Shu-po.
