Andrew Hsia, vice-president of the Kuomintang (KMT), the main opposition party in Taiwan, announced yesterday that he will make another trip to mainland China, his second in less than a month.
Quoted by the island’s press, the former Minister of Continental Affairs of Taiwan (2015-2016) said that he will travel to the city of Chongqing this week, accompanied by several members of the party’s Department of Continental Affairs, mainly to wish a happy new year to Taiwanese businesspeople in the region.
The seven-day visit, which will also include stops in cities such as Chengdu (center), Jinan and Qingdao (East), aims to “exchange impressions” with people from the region, highlighted the vice-president of the KMT, who denied going to negotiate “ whatever” on behalf of the Taiwanese government, currently led by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
KMT President Eric Chu tasked Hsia with handling international affairs and relations between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, said the opposition vice-president, when asked about the frequency of trips to China. “We are all friends, so there is nothing strange about meeting each other,” Hsia said.
The leader also defended himself against the DPP’s criticism of these visits, saying that the only intention of the trip to China is for “the other side to understand the feelings of the Taiwanese people”.
“Currently, only the ruling party, not the opposition, can betray Taiwan,” said the KMT vice-president. During his last visit to China, which took place between the end of February and the beginning of March, Hsia met with the head of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, Song Tao, at a time of tension in the Formosa Strait due to the death of two Chinese fishermen near the Kinmen Islands.
At the time, Hsia offered condolences to the families of the victims on behalf of the KMT and urged the DPP government to “find out the truth” about the incident, which is still being investigated.
The KMT advocates closer economic cooperation and renewed dialogue with China, which considers the island of Taiwan – governed autonomously since 1949 – as its province.