KMT Vice Chair holds press conference on 10-day China visit

KMT Vice Chair holds press conference on 10-day China visit

2023-02-20

KMT Vice Chair Andrew Hsia on Monday held a press conference to discuss his recent 10-day visit to China. At the event, Hsia said that officials from China’s central government were paying special attention to cross-strait relations. Critics from several political parties have blasted Hsia for the visit, saying that he failed to bring up important matters about Taiwan’s sovereignty or to protests China’s military expansionism in the area.

After 10 days in China, KMT Vice Chair Andrew Hsia held a press conference about his visit. He said that after conversations with Chinese officials, China was willing to gradually resume the import of banned agricultural and fishery products.

Andrew Hsia
KMT vice chair
In meetings with central and local government officials, we conveyed the thoughts of Taiwanese fishers, of small and medium enterprises, and of Taiwanese residents in the mainland. They showed good will, and we received a proactive response from them.

An expert on national security says that China’s “show of goodwill” is due to the KMT’s good performance in last year’s local elections. That has opened doors for utilizing the KMT as a tool to extend its reach in Taiwan, adopting measures similar to those under the Ma Ying-jeou administration. Those include things like offering support and enticements to work with China. Hsia said the elections had nothing to do with the visit.

Andrew Hsia
KMT vice chair
They paid attention to us because nobody wants a war. During our visit, we did not at all talk about the elections.

Chao Chun-shan
National Policy Foundation
We are not the ruling party, we can’t solve problems. This time across the strait, even if we achieve consensus with them, we can’t do anything unless we are in power.

A think tank scholar that was part of the delegation said that China hoped to see the KMT back in power. Reporters asked Hsia about his meetings with Wang Huning, who is soon to be the chair of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and with Song Tao, the head of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office. They asked him whether he had defended Taiwan’s sovereignty and pushed back against China’s military threat.

Andrew Hsia
KMT vice chair
When I bring up the “1992 Consensus” in my mind, I see it as the version that says there is one China with different interpretations of what China is. So there is no need for me to speak up about it. It’s not like what some people say. They say the Republic of China does not have space to grow on the international stage. But I think that such claims are ignorant of the reality. Over there, we are guests. We went there for exchanges and dialogue. We didn’t go there to argue. We put our differences aside, and any positions that we had to speak on, we spoke on very clearly.

Wang Hsing-huan
Taiwan Statebuilding Party chair
Wang Huning is the brains of Communist China, he was behind the “1992 consensus” and the “one country, two systems” models. His energy has been gradually exhausted. After the 20th National Congress, Xi Jinping ordered Wang Huning to formulate a new unification strategy for Taiwan. Andrew Hsia went to see Wang Huning. We think perhaps they went to rehearse the new script for the annexation of Taiwan.

Lo Chih-cheng
DPP lawmaker
It looks like they were trying to spruce up China’s image, and endorsing its policies. The results of the visit are questionable. I think we shouldn’t just look at what he said while he was there, but also at what he didn’t say.

Hsia said that both sides of the strait were looking for peace, giving rise to criticism that he failed to address the elephant in the room. DPP lawmakers have decried the visit, saying that Hsia’s motives for visiting China remain very unclear.