Wang Jin-pyng vowing to show up at the Cross-Strait Forum has put the Democratic Progressive Party(DP) in an awkward position. If Ma Ying-jeou, Wu Den-Yih, Chu Li-luan or Hau Lung-bin takes the lead, the Kuomintang(KMT) will be labelled by the DP as “pro-China and betraying Taiwan”, “bowing down” to China. The DP will even wield the “Anti-infiltration Act” and the “Five National Security Acts” to get them terrified. However, as Wang Jin-pyng has been invited by Tsai Ing-wen to take up the post of the Chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation, the DP is caught between a rock and a hard place. Now for the DP, either to lash out or not at the KMT is embarrassing.

To hold out an olive branch, Wang Jin-pyng has made it clear that he is willing to report to Tsai before and after the event. I thought it was a good opportunity to bridge the Cross-Strait gap with Wang, who is accepted by both the pan-Blue and pan-Green coalitions, communicating with the high echelon personnel of China on behalf of Tsai, in view of the lack of conduits for a dialogue cross the Strait. Yet, to my surprise, it seems the Presidential Office, which declined it right away, does not want to get associated whatsoever with China.

The Cross-Strait Forum has been held for years, with a large turnout every time. It can be seen as a kind of exchange or united front. From the perspective of united front, everything China does to Taiwan is about united front. Even the surplus of USD 100 billion in the trade balance on Taiwan’s side is also related to united front conducted by China. What is more effective than money in pushing through united front? The DP positions united front as snakes and scorpions just because it is not confident in itself and the Taiwanese. If united front is as effective as what the DP thinks, why don’t we take the initiative to push it through?

To reverse the perspective , Taiwan enterprises as well as travellers and students from the mainland can be seen as our means of imposing united front on China.

Now the DP is so fearful as to stop people from joining the Cross-Strait Forum via a video conference. This is beyond comprehension.

The DP is now clinging to the U.S., following wherever Trump is heading over. But Trump is leveraging Taiwan to get Beijing riled. By the end of the November election, Taiwan will have accomplished its “phased task”, so it has to get well prepared for being ditched, because the U.S. will not need Taiwan anymore by then, regardless of whether Trump is elected.

There are labels aplenty hung and stuck on the KMT by the DP: Support for “92 Consensus” means espousing “one country, two systems”; “being up in arms about pork imported from the U.S.” means “anti-U.S.”; going to the Cross-Strait Forum means “collaborating with the enemy”; advocating Cross-Strait peace and stability…

When Tsai was inaugurated as President, I said if Tsai could achieve “Cross-Strait peace and stability” and “bipartisan compromise” in the four years ahead, she would be a president of outstanding accomplishments. In the past, the DP always said it was playing the devil’s advocate so that the KMT could put on a gloss of respectability. Now that the positions are swapped, why doesn’t the DP take the KMT as a “safety valve”? Wang Jin-pyng showing up at the Cross-Strait Forum can reconcile the mistaken Cross-Strait conflicts; the KMT being up in arms about pork imported from the U.S can push the U.S. to sell to Taiwan more pork without leanness-enhancing agent instead of dumping American pork with lean meat powder.

Over internal affairs, political parties can for sure grabble with each other relentlessly, but for national interests, they can take on different roles upon external issues, be they devil’s advocates, respected gentlemen or simply a safety valve.

(Chao Shao-kang, Chairman of Broadcasting Corp. of China)

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