By Su Yung-yao and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer and CNAPresident Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday proposed “four musts” as the basis for moving cross-strait relations in a positive direction, vowing to establish mechanisms to safeguard Taiwan’s national security. These “four musts” are the vital basis for positive development of cross-strait relations, she said. Tsai yesterday rejected the view that the Nov. 24 elections, in which her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) suffered stinging losses, were a rejection of her administration’s cross-strait policy. A drastic shift in the local political landscape after the elections has led the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to push for cross-strait exchanges at the local government level based on the so-called “1992 consensus,” a format endorsing the “one China” principle that the Tsai administration has rejected. China has been taking advantage of the openness and freedom of Taiwan’s democratic system to intervene in local politics and the development of society, but her administration would establish three mechanisms to ward off such threats, Tsai said.

Source: Taipei Times January 01, 2019 15:56 UTC