Peace only option to resolve political differences: Taiwan Prez on Beijing

Peace between Taiwan and China is the only option, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said on Tuesday, while insisting strongly on defending the self-ruled island against Beijing’s threats of invasion.

Tsai said in a National Day address that the international community views stability in the Taiwan Strait as an indispensable component of global security and prosperity.

China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has increasingly sent ships and warplanes across the Taiwan Strait in an attempt to intimidate the population of 23 million people who strongly support the status quo of de facto independence.

Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party will seek to retain power in next year’s election against the Nationalists, who officially support reunification between the countries that split during the 1949 civil war.

“Let me reiterate that peace is the only option across the Taiwan Strait,” said Tsai, who will step down after two terms in office. Maintaining the status quo, as the greatest common denominator for all countries, is the critical key to ensuring peace.

Neither side can unilaterally change the status quo. Cross-strait disputes should be resolved peacefully, Tsai said.

Tsai also cited the recent launch of Taiwan’s home-built submarine as a major breakthrough in efforts to re-energize the domestic arms industry.

We have taken a major step forward in the self-sufficiency of our national defense and further enhanced the asymmetric capabilities of our military, she said.

Ceremonies featuring marching bands from Taiwan, Japan and the United States also highlighted Taiwan’s split identity as a self-governing democracy whose national symbols and state institutions were based in mainland China after the Manchurian Qing dynasty was overthrown in 1911. The Chinese Nationalist Party under Chiang Kaishi moved the government to Taiwan in 1949 following the takeover of mainland China by the Communist Party under Mao Zedong after a long bloody civil war.

Now in opposition, nationalists continue to support China’s goal of eventual unification between the countries. Former president and party leader Ma Ying-jeou and other nationalist politicians boycotted this year’s ceremonies because the government used the term Taiwan, rather than the official name of the Republic of China, in English references to the occasion.

China cut off most communications with Tsai’s government shortly after she took office in 2016. Vice President William Lai is favored to win the presidential election, potentially setting the stage for further tensions between the countries, which maintain close economic and cultural ties despite the vast gap between Beijing’s authoritarian one-party system and Taiwan’s robust democracy.