DPP caucus responds to Trump-Xi meeting: Taiwan Strait security depends on its own strength rather than a single meeting

Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived in the United States and will hold a "Trump-Xi meeting" with U.S. President Trump. However, a US$14 billion arms sales deal to Taiwan has been on hold for several months, and there are concerns that the Taiwan issue has become a bargaining chip in negotiations. In this regard, the Democratic Progressive Party caucus stated today (24th) that the United States has publicly expressed its support for Taiwan on many occasions, but that the long-term boycott of the defense budget should be the most worrying. It also called on the opposition caucus to speak to Xi Jinping and stop intervening in Taiwan's development of independent national defense capabilities.

The DPP Legislative Yuan Caucus held a press conference to respond to public opinion this morning. Secretary General Fan Yun pointed out that the Democratic Progressive Party is happy to see any efforts to reduce regional risks. How to manage the risks of authoritarian expansion will be the focus of the Trump-Xi meeting, because security in the Taiwan Strait is not only the cross-party interests of the United States, but also related to all democratic countries. The United States has repeatedly reiterated its clear position on Taiwan, including the White House, the U.S. State Department, and the foreign ministers of the United States, Japan and South Korea have all publicly expressed support for Taiwan.

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As for the outside world's concerns about delays in arms sales, Fan Yun said that the biggest delay in Taiwan's development of national defense in the past few years has been the long-term boycott of the arms purchase budget. For example, the 1.25 trillion special defense regulations were passed only after 9 months. This is what we should worry about, because based on past experience, security across the Taiwan Strait will not be based on a single negotiation, but on its own strength and cooperation with democratic partners.

As for President Lai Ching-te's mention yesterday that a defense budget of 1.3 trillion yuan will be compiled next year, he is worried about being blocked by the Legislative Yuan and criticized by the opposition for his election language. Deputy Secretary-General Chen Peiyu said that in the past two and a half years, the Kuomintang has been blocking the Legislative Yuan’s attitude towards reviewing relevant defense budgets, and even made comments on the Political Yuan’s version in the process, making the regulations absurd. Therefore, in terms of professionalism and attitude, there will of course be doubts about the opposition. President Lai Qingde’s concerns are not election language.

Chen Peiyu also pointed out that developing national defense to safeguard Taiwan's status has never been an election issue, but is related to the daily life of every Taiwanese. It is also what President Lai Ching-te and President Zhuo Rongtai should do. However, he also asked the opposition group to publicly appeal to Xi Jinping, who is currently visiting the United States, to stop interfering in Taiwan's national defense independence and its connection with related democratic countries. "To be honest, those who bully Taiwan in different places every day are actually the Communist Party of China and Xi Jinping."

Chen Peiyu said that it is a pity that so far, neither Taichung Mayor Lu Xiuyan, Taipei Mayor Jiang Wanan, nor Legislative Yuan Han Guoyu are willing to publicly call on China to stop intervening in Taiwan, or "oppose Beijing to intervene in Taiwan in any form to obtain the ability to defend itself." If they are willing to say this publicly, I believe they are standing with the Taiwanese people.