Taiwan's Tsai Calls For Dialogue With Beijing

Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen has called for “meaningful dialogue” with the mainland on an equal and mutually respectful basis, saying the situation in the Taiwan Strait has been “quite tense”.

Beijing has piled on increasing pressure on Taipei over the past few weeks by sending its warplanes into Taiwan’s air defence zone at unprecedented frequency, including crossing the Taiwan Strait's sensitive mid line that normally serves as an unofficial buffer zone.

In a speech to mark the island’s National Day, Tsai said this, coupled with disputes in the South and East China Sea, a China-India border conflict and the implementation of the controversial national security legislation in Hong Kong, all pose “serious challenges” to peace, democracy and prosperity in the region.

She added that Taiwan "will not act rashly" and will work to lower the risk of military conflict.

"We are committed to upholding cross-strait stability, but this is not something Taiwan can shoulder alone – it is the joint responsibility of both sides," she said.

"At this stage, the most pressing cross-strait issue is to discuss how we can live in peace and coexist based on mutual respect, goodwill and understanding. As long as the Beijing authorities are willing to resolve antagonisms and improve cross-strait relations, while parity and dignity are maintained, we are willing to work together to facilitate meaningful dialogue", the Taiwan leader added.

Tsai also appealed to President Xi Jinping to live up to his promise to "never seek hegemony", saying a recent speech he delivered to the United Nations offered some hope.

"I am also aware that the leader across the Strait (President Xi) has publicly stated in a video message to the United Nations General Assembly that China will never seek hegemony, expansion, or a sphere of influence. As countries in the region and around the world are now concerned about China's expanding hegemony, we hope this is the beginning of genuine change."

In response, a mainland spokesperson on Saturday night slammed Tsai and her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for advocating collusion with foreign forces to seek "Taiwan independence".

Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, blamed the DPP for disrupting the exchanges and cooperation between people from both sides of the strait and pushing forward what she called a series of "Taiwan independence" activities.

"We urge the DPP authority to stop any provocative word and action promoting independence and not to go further down the wrong road", Xinhua quoted Zhu as saying.

The DPP would "only swallow its own evil fruits to collude with Western countries", she warned.

Zhu stressed any attempt to engage in political manipulation and separatist activities to create "Taiwan independence" will not succeed.

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