Want China Times
Date: 2015-04-08
By: CNA and Staff Reporter
Former premier Frank Hsieh of Taiwan’s opposition Democratic Progressive Party said
Frank Hsieh at DPP headquarters in Taipei, March 18. (File photo/Chen Chi-chuan)
Tuesday that if the party fails to handle its China policy well, cross-strait relations will not be stable if the party wins the 2016 presidential election.
Now is the best time for the DPP to adjust its cross-strait policy after the party won big in last year’s local government elections, Hsieh said in a radio talk show he hosts.
Hsieh made the remark a day after another DPP heavyweight, Hung Chi-chang, who previously served as Taiwan’s top negotiator with China, urged his party to give up its pursuit of de jure independence for Taiwan if it is returned to power next year.
According to Hsieh, Taiwan’s cross-strait policy needs the support of more than 60% of its people to be successful. Currently, the pro-independence DPP’s cross-strait policy receives an approval rating of about 30%, while the ruling Kuomintang’s policy of maintaining the status quo with a view to eventual unification also gets around 30%. [FULL STORY]
