Former Taiwanese Vice President Annette Lu said March 29 that her opposition party should be more realistic about taking advantage of China's increasing economic clout while not losing sight of the party's pro-independence goals.
The comments follow a series of recent Democratic Progressive Party victories over the ruling Nationalists in local and legislative byelections. Part of the reason for the DPP's growing strength is unhappiness among many Taiwanese with Ma's signature policy of negotiating a limited free trade agreement with Beijing. Ma says the deal will be signed by June.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Lu blasted the free trade agreement with Beijing as helping to pave the way for Taiwan's eventual absorption into the mainland, but she insisted that her party should not seek direct confrontation with Beijing.
"The DPP needs to become more realistic to face the rising of China," she said. "Some people (in the party) still pretend China still is the old China and try to neglect the fact that so many Taiwanese are in fact there and so much change has been going on."
Lu defined China and Taiwan as "relatives" and "neighbors," but she said it was important to emphasize the island's sovereignty.(Source: Derby Wu, BusinessWeek, Mar 29, 2010).