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Tsai would have good relations with
US, China: Chen
By Chris Wang / Staff Reporter
Members of a newly formed
“cheerleader” group hold up policy signs on the theme of Democratic Progressive
Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen’s presidential campaign slogan “Taiwan NEXT” at
Tsai’s campaign office in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) could expect a sound relationship with the US and
China if she were to win January’s presidential election, former president Chen
Shui-bian (陳水扁) wrote in an article published yesterday.
“I’m confident we will have the first female president in Taiwan’s history in
January,” Chen, who is serving a 17-and-a-half-year jail sentence for corruption
and money laundering, wrote in his latest column titled “The truth you did not
know.”
The DPP presidential candidate would stand behind her pledge to safeguard
Taiwan’s sovereignty and not make deals with China in exchange for personal
benefit, Chen wrote in the article, which was dated July 30.
If Tsai, who Chen said is the the main driving force behind the DPP’s comeback
from its low point in 2008, were to win the presidential election, her
administration would enjoy better relations with Washington and Beijing than
those he experienced during his time in office, from 2000 until 2008, he wrote.
Tsai has a good relationship with US officials, members of the US Congress and
academics at numerous US think tanks, and maintains open channels of
communication with all of them, Chen wrote.
“The US administration would not be opposed to her presidency,” he wrote. “The
US would also help relay messages from Tsai’s campaign office to China so that
the Chinese would not make a miscalculation.”
In terms of cross-strait relations, Chen said bilateral dialogue was expected to
continue even if President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) were to lose his re-election bid.
Chen added that he was optimistic about the presidential and legislative
elections, saying that he expected a united pan-green camp to defeat a divided
pan-blue camp.
Chen, who says his imprisionment was a vendetta carried out by Ma’s government
in retaliation for his pro-independence stance, has produced a steady flow of
books and columns since he was first detained in November 2008.
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