The vice chairman of Taiwan’s main opposition Kuomintang launched a weeklong trip to mainland China on Monday by calling for an easing in the cross-strait rivalry and the reopening of dialogue.
Leaving Taipei for the mainland city of Xiamen, Andrew Hsia also said that if he met mainland officials, he would express condolences to the families of two fishermen who died after a boat chase by the Taiwanese coastguard earlier this month.
“We hope cross-strait hostility will not continue to rise as we all want peace, stability, and prosperity between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait,” Hsia said.
“We also hope the government can find a channel for dialogue between the two sides as soon as possible.”
Hsia made the comments at Taipei’s Songshan Airport at the start of a trip that will also take him to Guangzhou, Nanchang, Hangzhou, Kunshan and Shanghai.
Cross-strait tensions flared on February 14 when two mainland fishermen died in waters off the Taiwan-controlled defence outpost of Quemoy, also known as Kinmen. All four of the crew on board a speedboat being used for fishing fell overboard as the coastguard gave chase. Two were pulled from the water alive.
The island’s authorities claimed the mainland boat illegally sailed into the waters close to Quemoy and the accident happened after the boat refused to stop for an inspection and sped away. One of two survivors, however, told mainland media that their boat was hit by the coastguard vessel and overturned.
Beijing accused the island for using “violent and dangerous methods” in the chase and said it would patrol waters around Quemoy and Matsu – another Taiwan’s defence outpost close to the mainland – to enforce laws and protect its fishermen.
Chinese coastguard boards Taiwan cruise ship after deadly boat incident
Chinese coastguard boards Taiwan cruise ship after deadly boat incident
At the airport on Monday, Hsia said it was “very important” for the Democratic Progressive Party government to be able to have dialogue with the mainland to avoid hostility and tensions from continuing to rise in the strait.
“The KMT has dialogue channels with the mainland side … but we are not the ruling party and are not authorised to talk with [Beijing] to resolve the issue,” Hsia said.
He said his trip would focus on meetings with Taiwanese businesspeople, students and residents based on the mainland, and there was no plan for him to meet mainland officials.
But he was open to any arrangement for the mainland authorities for such meetings “as the host wishes”, Hsia said.
“If there are such meetings, it is inevitable for our two sides to touch on the Quemoy incident,” Hsia said, adding he would “express condolences to the bereaved families”.
He also said he hoped the two sides could resolve the issue with reason and the rule of law.
“We hope the judicial authorities [in Taiwan] can find out and make public the truth … and return justice to the parties involved,” he said.
Beijing has demanded that the island swiftly make public the cause of the incident, identify the guilty parties, and apologise to the bereaved families. However, the island’s authorities insisted that its officers were merely performing their law-enforcement duty after the mainland boat illegally entered Taiwanese waters.
Hsia also denied claims by DPP lawmakers that the KMT turned a blind eye to Beijing’s attempt to use patrols around Quemoy and Matsu to erase the boundary of Taiwanese waters.
“There have been multiple cases of illegal fishing in our waters by mainland fishermen in the past seven years under the [watchful eyes] of the DPP government but all those cases were resolved. Why can’t it be resolved this time?” he said.
“Why do cross-strait relations continue to deteriorate and cannot become peaceful and stable? This is something the ruling party government should reflect on.”
Beijing – which views Taiwan as part of its territory, to be reunited by force if necessary – suspended official exchanges with the island in 2016 when Tsai Ing-wen, of the independence-leaning DPP, was elected president and refused to accept the one-China principle.
Like most countries, the United States – Taiwan’s informal ally and largest arms supplier – does not recognise the island as an independent state but is opposed to any unilateral change of the status quo by force.
