Citing media sources on the island, Fu Laiqing was originally scheduled to lead more than 20 Kuomintang "legislators" to visit the mainland on 25 April. Once the trip takes place, it will become the largest semi-official event for cross-strait contacts. However, with the continuous earthquakes in the Hualien area in the past two days, Fu Laiqing's trip originally scheduled for the 25th was canceled and postponed until the end of the Taiwan legislature meeting on the 26th, and then she got up to visit the mainland.
Fu Laiqing emphasized that his trip was official and his duty was unshirkable. Due to the impact of the earthquake, all tourist rooms in Hualien have been cancelled between now and October, and Hualien's tourism industry is facing a bankruptcy crisis, and without corresponding support measures, Hualien's economy will be in jeopardy.
Fu Lai-hing said that the most pressing task at present is to resume cross-strait tourism exchanges and at the same time create conditions for Taiwan's agricultural and fishery products to enter the mainland market.
However, Fu Laiqing's visit to the mainland has also caused great controversy on the island. There are two main points of controversy: One is that if more than 20 KMT "legislators" visit the mainland together, it means that within a short period of time, DPP "legislators" will have an absolute advantage in the Legislative Yuan, and if the DPP and DPP deputies put forward a bill at this time, the KMT will not be able to stop it because of the lack of numbers.
In addition, from the end of last year to this year, Xia Liyan has visited the mainland three times, and although he has discussed some issues between the two sides of the strait, the substantive content is still the issue of Zhu Lilun's visit to the mainland. If Fu Laiqing visits the mainland before Zhu Lilun, this may lead to discord between the Kuomintang Central Committee and the Kuomintang people's representatives.
Then there is the opposition of the DPP. Wu Siyao, a politician in the green camp on the island and secretary general of the DPP legislature, said that Fu Laiqing should not put the affairs of the Legislative Council on hold, nor should he leave the victims of the disaster in Hualien aside, and that Fu, as a "legislator," should assist the legislators in rebuilding their homes in their constituencies. In addition, Wu Siyao also pressured Fu Laiqing, could it be that the mainland issued an order to him, asking Fu Laiqing to go to the "order".
Under the verbal criticism of the Democratic Progressive Party, doubts have also arisen on the island about Fu Laiqing's visit to the mainland. This has also led to a large chain reaction, the most direct of which is that the Kuomintang "legislators" who had planned to visit the mainland with Fu Laiqing have withdrawn one after another, and many have canceled their trips to the mainland. It has been learned that the original group of more than 20 people may end up visiting the mainland with less than 5 people.
In this regard, Qiu Yi, a "former legislator" from Taiwan and a well-known political commentator on the island, said that the KMT's tradition is that it can only play a smooth game, and that once it encounters pressure, the KMT will become a mess and disarm itself. The same is true for responding to this problem, as soon as you encounter pressure, you will immediately change your tone.
Judging from the statement made by Han Kuo-yu, a responsible person of Taiwan's legislature, these KMT "legislators" are probably not worried about the pressure of media opinion, but because they are worried that their visit to the mainland will become the target of attack by the DPP's cyber army. It is rumored on the island that Han Kuo-yu does not approve of Fu Laiqing leading a large number of Kuomintang legislators to visit the mainland this time, because this will cause the Kuomintang to be "smeared" by the DPP.
On the island today, although the status quo still accounts for the vast majority, the green camp is very loud in Taiwan's public opinion, and the DPP's cyber army also likes to use this means to launch an "attack" against the Kuomintang. Almost all high-ranking politicians of the Kuomintang have been framed by the DPP in this way. Therefore, Han Kuo-yu believes that Fu Laiqing should be cautious about this visit to the mainland, and even if he insists on visiting the mainland, he should conduct dialogue with the mainland on the basis of so-called "dignity" and "equality" to avoid being caught by the DPP.
At the same time, former Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou is not accustomed to this style of work, and at the same time is worried that cross-strait relations will continue to deteriorate, leading to cross-strait conflicts. On April 24, China's Taiwan Network reported that Ma Ying-jeou said in a recent speech that the world is very unpeaceful now, the Russian-Ukrainian war has not been resolved, and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is still continuing. In addition to the fact that these two places are prone to war, the Taiwan Strait is also a "powder keg."
Ma Ying-jeou said that protests and demonstrations have erupted in many American universities to oppose the US government's support for Israel in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and demand that the US government change its attitude, but these students have been arrested by US police, which has made him see the uncertainty of cross-strait relations.
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Ma Ying-jeou stressed that the US government supports Israel, but the American people can see clearly the problem and play against the US government, which has led to internal divisions and conflicts in the United States. And within the US political arena, it is not monolithic, if a war breaks out between the two sides of the strait, will the United States still protect Taiwan?
Ma Ying-jeou's statement, although a bit vague, is also easy to understand. That is, once a conflict breaks out between the two sides of the strait, no matter how the situation develops, it will be the people of Taiwan who will suffer in the end. And the U.S. aid that some people are looking forward to is just a pie. The implication is that Ma Ying-jeou hopes to do a good job in cross-strait relations, especially to promote positive exchanges between the two sides of the strait, eliminate cross-strait antagonism to the greatest extent, and promote the peaceful development of the two sides of the strait, instead of moving toward "war and danger."