Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen waves to the crowd on May 20, 2016, in Taipei, Taiwan. (Photo : Getty Images)
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said that her administration is willing to continue talks with China after Beijing stopped the cross-Strait nations’ regular communication mechanism.
On Tuesday, Tsai told the media including Reuters that the self-ruled island will pursue open communications with the mainland in order to maintain peace across the Strait.
"We will continue the dialogue with mainland China, as even though, probably at this moment, official negotiation channels have been temporarily interrupted, there still exist other options for communication and dialogue," she said in a press conference while visiting Paraguay.
Like other nations, Tsai declared that Taiwan wants to cultivate peace and stability in the nation, especially amid conflict of beliefs.
"No matter what party is in government in Taiwan, we always have a single, common objective: to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait," she added.
In a separate report, Reuters said that China revealed a suspension on the communication process between the cross-Strait nations since Tsai took oath on May 20.
Apparently, Taiwan has yet to acknowledge the 1992 cross-Strait consensus where the communication mechanism is stipulated.
"Because the Taiwan side has not acknowledged the 1992 consensus, this joint political basis for showing the one-China principle, the cross Taiwan Strait contact and communication mechanism has already stopped," China's spokesperson An Fengshan said.
Tensions between Taiwan and China began when Taipei elected a democratic party-backed candidate in a historical electoral poll.
Since then, friction strained the nations' ties, particularly after some Taiwanese nationals were captured and linked to a telecom fraud case that victimized citizens from the mainland.
China said the suspects should be tried in the mainland because their victims were Chinese residents, but Taiwan insisted that since they are Taiwanese citizens, they should be brought to justice in their own country.
Various nations took different sides, some of them explaining that they acknowledge Beijing's "one-China policy," which indicates that Taiwan is part of the mainland.
