No Peace Talks Amid Beijing Threats: Tsai Ing-wen

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said on Wednesday that Taipei would never make any deal with Beijing that threatens Taiwan's sovereignty or democracy and no peace talks could take place amid threats of military force.

She was responding to a comment by Kuomintang chairman Wu Den-yih that the opposition party would seek a cross-strait peace treaty if it wins the presidential election next year.

Tsai said there can be no negotiations between Taiwan and the mainland and there can be no real peace, as long as Beijing refuses to rule out using military force against the island to impose the "one country, two systems" framework in place in Hong Kong and Macau.

"China's military intentions and its refusal to give up the use of force against Taiwan is a real source of regional instability and a threat to regional peace", she said at a media briefing at the Presidential Office in Taipei.

On Tuesday, Tsai announced in a TV interview that she plans to seek re-election in the 2020 poll.

"It's natural that any sitting president wants to do more for the country and wants to finish things on his or her agenda," she told CNN.

Tsai's Democratic Progressive Party suffered major losses in local elections last November and she stepped down as chairwoman of the party. Prominent pro-independence figures later urged her not to run again for president.