Vice presidential candidate for the DPP Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) says that Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) denial of any timeline for attacking Taiwan should be assessed through the philosophy of “trust but verify”. Hsiao, who was until this week Taiwan’s representative to the United States, was invoking former U.S. President Ronald Reagan, who used the phrase in the context of nuclear disarmament with the Soviet Union. Hsiao made the comments while speaking to the media on Thursday.
Her comments were in response to President Xi’s remarks during his recent meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the APEC Summit in San Francisco. She said she hopes that Xi is sincere in his claim, but that Taiwan also needs to strengthen itself to continue having confidence in cross-strait dialogues.
Hsiao was asked about her views on China’s recent tax investigation against the company Foxconn, founded by another presidential candidate Terry Gou (郭台銘). Hsiao says that since Taiwan’s first democratic presidential election in 1996, China has consistently attempted to interfere in Taiwan’s elections. She says she can only imagine the pressure put on Taiwanese businesses in China. She adds that she hopes China will see that such intimidation only harms the economic relationship and exchanges between the two sides.
Hsiao was also asked how she would handle cross-strait relations, given that she has been sanctioned and blacklisted by China in the past. She was also asked to address comments by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office that she and her running mate Lai Ching-te (賴清德) represent a “double independence ticket”. Hsiao says that the communist party has had a habit of labeling people for years and such labeling is not constructive. She says that she and other people sanctioned by China will continue to defend their rights, including Taiwan’s right to determine its own future. Hsiao says that she is committed to the status quo, adding that countries that agree with Taiwan’s position should make it clear to China that dialogue is the only way to resolve differences and that war is not an option.