Taipei Times
Date: Aug 14, 2017
By: Staff writer, with CNA, WASHINGTON

US academics on Friday expressed positive views about President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) approach toward China during a conference in Washington, with some saying she has been dealing with Beijing in a careful and relatively conservative manner.

Tsai has been “an extraordinarily careful practitioner of statecraft,” said Patrick Cronin, a senior advisor and senior director of the Asia-Pacific security program at the Center for a New American Security, at the conference titled “The Future of US-Taiwan Relations in New Administrations.”

Every time Tsai tries to come up with a new framework for ties with China other than the so-called “1992 consensus” or proposes a new type of interaction across the Taiwan Strait, the Chinese government dismisses it, Cronin said.

That is because China does not want Tsai to “regain some new leverage” on cross-strait issues and is intent on squeezing her space even further, including by stealing Taiwan’s diplomatic allies and cutting back on the number of Chinese tourists visiting Taiwan, he said.    [FULL  STORY]