"We should develop new 'cross-ocean relations'," Vice President Annette Lu said in her speeches delivered to the Rotary International and Taiwan Heart Club members on April 8 and 9, referring to Taiwan's cooperation projects with Central American allies like El Salvador, Guatemala, and Panama.
As most of the Central American countries have signed free trade agreements and Taiwan has set up a "Taiwan-El Salvador Park" developing mariculture and food processing industries, the vice president sees Central America as a bright niche area and encouraged Taiwan's businessmen to increase investment in the region. "In the future, Taiwan can expect to trade with North American and South American countries via the super highway--Central America," said the vice president.
However, the vice president is no less worried about Taiwan's cross-strait relations with China.
Speaking of the "1992 Consnsus," the vice president referred it as the agreement that allows each side of the Taiwan Strait to interpret a version of each own of the "One China" principle. "The '1992 Consensus' is as much a non-consensus as an absurd product of an era of absurdity," the vice president said in her remarks.
On the other hand, the vice president emphasized that any one who wanted to lead the country must have fundamental unequivocal points of views and be courageous enough to pinpoint, reject, and correct wrongful things.
Therefore, the vice president pointed out two things that the opposition parties can by no means avoid if they think themselves responsible candidates for the election in 2008: to end the absurdity of the "1992 Consensus," and to oppose China's ambitious annexation of Taiwan. Taiwan's future leaders must be courageous enough to speak of two Chinas, that is, the People's Republic of China, and the Republic of China, said the vice president.
The vice president then elucidated in her speech the four historical implications of the Republic of China: the Republic of China on the mainland; the Republic of China retreating to Taiwan; the Republic of China in Taiwan; and the Republic of China as Taiwan. "The fact that the people of Taiwan for the first time used their ballots to elect the head of the country has given birth to the Republic of China as Taiwan," the vice president said, and hoped that the light of clarity could be shed upon the history.