Taipei: President Lai Ching-te has firmly dismissed the notion of engaging in cross-Taiwan Strait dialogue based on cooperation with Taiwan’s opposition parties, citing fundamentally different approaches to China. In a recent interview with podcast host Mindy Huang on her YouTube channel Mindi World News, Lai reiterated the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) stance that opposition parties tend to support the “One China principle” through the “1992 Consensus” or concepts like “both sides of the Strait are one family.”
According to Focus Taiwan, the “One China principle” is Beijing’s assertion that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is the sole legitimate government of China, with Taiwan being an inalienable part of China. The “1992 Consensus” is described by the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) as a tacit understanding reached between the then KMT government of Taiwan and the Chinese government. The KMT interprets this as both sides acknowledging “one China,” with each side allowed to define what “China” means. The “one family” concept, promoted by Chinese leadership to encourage unification, was echoed by former Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je in 2015 to support cross-strait exchanges.
On the contrary, President Lai emphasized that the DPP believes the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, asserting that Taiwan’s future should be determined by its 23 million citizens. Lai criticized China’s increased military activity and psychological warfare as tactics aimed at forcing unification and challenging the rules-based international order.
To address these challenges, Lai reiterated his administration’s “Four Pillars of Peace” strategy, focusing on national defense, economic resilience, global partnerships with democracies, and stable cross-strait leadership rooted in principles. He affirmed Taiwan’s openness to dialogue with China, but only on the basis of equality and mutual respect, a position shared with his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen that has not received a positive response from Beijing.
President Lai stated that Taiwan prefers engagement over confrontation and exchange over containment, aiming for peaceful coexistence and shared prosperity. He also warned that China’s current strategy towards Taiwan and the world has not yielded results and may be counterproductive. Citing perceived shifts in U.S. policy, such as increased focus on the Indo-Pacific, Lai urged Beijing to reconsider its approach, questioning, “Is this really what China wants?”
Regarding U.S. “reciprocal” tariffs, Lai mentioned that ongoing negotiations aim to prevent tariffs on Taiwan from exceeding 10 percent.