Want China Times
Date: 2015-04-05
By: Chang Ching

Former US officials and scholars have recently stated their views on the cross-strait policy of

President Ma Ying-jeou speaks against “abandon Taiwan” calls in the US at the Presidential Office in Taipei, March 27, 2012. (File photo/CNA)

the candidate most likely to win Taiwan’s presidential election in 2016, Tsai Ing-wen of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party. Tsai in response has been nonchalant regarding their suggestions.

Deliberately disregarding questions raised by the United States could possibly whip up another round of “giving up Taiwan” rhetoric, however. Support for the idea of abandoning Taiwan to focus on US-China relations has arisen due to changes in the international strategic environment and because Washington and Beijing have found common interests, reducing the weight of the “Taiwan issue” in bilateral relations.

“The Giving up Taiwan” rhetoric can first be attributed to Harvard professor Joseph Nye, who wrote an article in the Washington Post in 1998 supporting the “one country, two systems” approach for the unification of China.     [FULL  STORY]