Lai's agenda digresses from path to peace

The debate over "maintaining the status quo" in Taiwan has intensified this year, particularly after a statement by US President Donald Trump.

After his visit to China in May, Trump issued a warning to some in Taiwan, stating that he was "not looking to have somebody to go independent".

During President Xi Jinping's visit to the United States in September, the Chinese leader once again urged the US to adhere to the correct position of opposing the independence of Taiwan.

In his so-called Double-Ten speech on Oct 10, Lai Ching-te, leader of the Taiwan region, spoke at length about building a "city upon a hill", playing up the so-called mainland threat to change the "status quo" and promoted the false narrative of "democracy versus authoritarianism".

Since taking office more than two years ago, Lai has repeatedly asserted that the two sides of the Strait are "not subordinate to each other".

This continues the separatist position pursued under Tsai Ing-wen and is a unilateral attempt to change the status quo.

However, even under the island's existing regulations, particularly "the act governing relations between the people of the Taiwan area and the mainland area", both Taiwan and the mainland fall within a one-China framework.

Taiwan therefore does not have the legal status of an "independent state".

Lai's self-description as a "pragmatic worker for Taiwan independence" has long been inconsistent with that framework, while his new "two-state" narrative directly contradicts it.

It's high time that Lai returned to the 1992 Consensus, and stopped twisting words. In fact Lai's "status quo" rhetoric is merely a distraction from governance failures on the island.

The "status quo" promoted by the DPP authorities treats the two sides as "one China, one Taiwan", which conflicts with the one-China principle.

The international community broadly recognizes the one-China principle, acknowledges that Taiwan is part of China and opposes separatist moves that undermine peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.

Countries with diplomatic relations with China are also bound by commitments under the one-China principle. They neither recognize "one China, one Taiwan", nor maintain official relations with the Taiwan authorities.

The dwindling number of Taiwan's so-called "diplomatic allies", now at a historic low, reflects the deeper problems dogging the DPP's cross-Strait policy.

The roots of the DPP's current rhetoric can be traced back decades. Founded in 1986, the party adopted a "Taiwan independence" clause in 1991, calling for a new "constitution" and the establishment of a so-called "Republic of Taiwan". That was an explicitly separatist line.

However, amid firm opposition from the mainland, the constitutional moves toward independence proved futile.

The clause was questioned within Taiwan from the very outset. In 2007, Chen Shui-bian and the then-ruling DPP introduced a "resolution on a normal country", advocating gradual "normalization" of Taiwan's "statehood" and seeking UN membership under the name "Taiwan".

But neither "constitutional revision" nor "constitutional reinterpretation" could deliver the separatist goals the DPP had promised.

Lai is now trying to redefine "Taiwan independence" with his new "two-state" narrative to describe the "cross-Strait status quo".

He avoids openly talking about rewriting the so-called "constitution" or changing Taiwan's official name, but in substance uses the language of "maintaining the status quo" to conceal a separatist agenda.

Former Broadcasting Corporation of China chairman Jaw Shaw-kong has also criticized the DPP for appealing to its separatist base during elections while promising to "maintain the status quo" to court centrist voters.

The fundamental reality that no political slogan or document can change is that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one China. Maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait on the basis of the one-China principle serves the common interests of people on both sides.

The political confrontation caused by China's civil war in the mid-20th century cannot continue indefinitely. National reunification is a historical trend that can't be reversed.

The mainland will continue advancing reunification, firmly opposing separatist activities and removing obstacles, while promoting integrated cross-Strait development.

Awareness of this reality is also growing in Taiwan. Opinion polls show that more people believe the current cross-Strait situation will be difficult to maintain indefinitely and that Taiwan will eventually have to confront the question of reunification.

The two sides can resolve differences through consultation and negotiation.

One of the reasons why Taiwan society has long hesitated to discuss reunification is the DPP authorities' distortion of the mainland's Taiwan policy, including "one country, two systems".

But as the mainland's overall influence grows and its development model becomes more attractive, it will be able to demonstrate the benefits of reunification and win greater support among Taiwan compatriots for integrated cross-Strait development and reunification.

The author is the deputy director of the Institute of Taiwan Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

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