Taipei Times
Date: Mar 21, 2016
By: Staff writer, with CNA

The greater crisis for Taiwan in the diplomatic arena would be diminished international space rather than a loss of diplomatic allies if no “common basis” exists between both sides of the Taiwan Strait, former minister of foreign affairs Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊) said.

Ou was referring to the so-called “1992 consensus” that president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has refused to recognize.

China’s recent re-establishment of diplomatic relations with the Gambia is a clear “signal” for the potential crisis of Taiwan’s international presence, Ou said.

Ou, who served as minister of foreign affairs in President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration from 2008 to 2009, said he believes that the loss of the Gambia as a diplomatic ally was not a failure of Ma’s modus vivendi diplomacy approach, because the two sides of the Taiwan Strait had not robbed each other of diplomatic allies over the past eight years.     [FULL  STORY]