Taiwan opposition defends ‘brave’ China outreach after controversial visit

TAOYUAN, Taiwan: The head of Taiwan’s main opposition party the Kuomintang (KMT) defended its “brave” outreach in order to Beijing on Weekend (Aug 28) following a senior official visited China on a trip ruined by Taipei’s federal government and which annoyed even some party members.

China’s military drills near the democratically governed island this month in response to a trip to Taipei simply by US House Loudspeaker Nancy Pelosi were widely condemned in Taiwan, including by the KMT.

But the KMT’s decision to send its mouthpiece chairman Andrew Hsia to China on what the party said was a pre-arranged visit to the Taiwanese business community there soon after the exercises started caused a storm of controversy.

Late Saturday right after he returned, Taiwan’s China-policy making Landmass Affairs Council stated Hsia was wrong to go and that resistance parties should identify that China is “the instigator of the destruction of peace within the Taiwan Strait”.

Speaking at the party’s annual conference in Taoyuan, outside of Taipei, its chairman Eric Chu said that Hsia and others are “very brave and determined”, and it was crucial to keep lines of communication open to avoid conflict.

“We know that there will be different opinions and a backlash, but the KMT must insist on doing the right thing, ” he or she said.

“What’s more, if the two sides are in severe antagonism, no one can get away the risk of war. ”

New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi, a mature KMT member who had called the value of visiting China and taiwan at this moment “debatable”, dropped to answer reporters’ questions about Hsia at the congress.

Hsia, now within government-mandated quarantine, met senior officials whilst in China, including a deputy head of its Taiwan Affairs Office.