By Shannon Tiezzi
KMT presidential candidate Eric Chu used his visit to the U.S. to question his opponent’s plans for cross-strait ties.
Fresh off of a ground-breaking meeting in Singapore between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou, the presidential candidate from Ma’s Kuomintang (KMT) party departed on November 9 for a week-long tour of the United States. Eric Chu, the head of the KMT as well as the party’s presidential candidate (at least since they ousted former candidate Hung Hsiu-chu in October), visited Los Angeles, Washington D.C, New York, and San Francisco.
The highlight of his trip was Chu’s time in Washington, where he held meetings with U.S. officials on regional security, economic issues, and cross-strait relations. According to the China Post, Chu met with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel, National Security Council Asia Director Daniel Kritenbrink, and Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Neither side was willing to divulge details of the talks, although Chu said, “All that needed to be said was said.”
From Chu’s perspective, the major goal of the trip was to convince U.S. officials that he is best equipped to handle the sensitive issue of cross-strait relations, especially now that the KMT is armed with the historic Ma-Xi meeting as evidence. The opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate, Tsai Ing-wen, has pledged to keep the “status quo” of cross-strait relations intact, but her political opponents accuse her of not having a concrete plan for doing so. They also like to point to the tense state of cross-strait relations under the last DPP president, Chen Shui-bian.
Chu made his message explicit in an op-ed in the Washington Times: “[C]ross-strait peace and stability is now on the line, as Taiwan’s 2016 presidential election once again pits the pro-de jure independence Democratic Progressive Party against the incumbent KMT party.” By arguing that the United States, China, and Taiwan all need a stable cross-strait relationship to secure their national interests – and by claiming a DPP president would undermine that stability – Chu is overtly arguing that Washington should support the KMT.
Read the full story at The Diplomat