Even though Taiwan is slowly pivoting toward Southeast Asia and the United States, it is still keen to maintain friendly relations with China, its neighbor, Bloomberg reported.
Industries in China and Taiwan complement each other, according to Taiwanese premier Lin Chuan, who has sworn into office about a year ago.
In his first interview with foreign media, Lin said that Taiwan should not push China away.
“As it is a huge market over there in mainland China, it behooves Taiwan to maintain friendly, smooth economic relations,” Lin said on May 5 at his Taipei office. “In doing that, there’s no downside for Taiwan.”
“So far as trade and the division of labor are concerned, the cross-strait economic relationship isn’t something that should be avoided.”
Just recently, Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen proposed a new model for cross-straits relations with structural cooperation as a main ingredient. The proposal was a product of the criticisms directed toward Ma Ying-jeou, Tsai’s predecessor, and his apparent inclination to lean on China for trade.
Another part of the proposal is to boost trade links with other countries, which may draw the ire of China. As a consequence, relations between Taiwan and China might suffer yet again.
Tensions between the neighbors have been high since Tsai Ing-wen was elected as president of Taiwan. Her political party, the Democratic Progressive Party, also unseated the Kuomintang last year. In addition, Tsai rejected the One-China framework and now moves to strengthen the island’s military capabilities to assist its pivot to trade with Southeast Asia and the United States.
In order to truly establish a trade industry independent from China, Lin said that free-trade deals must be secured.
“We will adopt low-key and pragmatic measures to establish better economic relations with other countries,” said Lin, who has a background in finance and statistics.