KMT leader says Taiwan can preserve peace by avoiding ‘de jure independence’

Taiwan’s main opposition leader said cross-strait peace can be maintained as long as Taipei did not move towards “de jure independence”, during her trip in the United States.

Cheng Li-wun, chairwoman of the Kuomintang (KMT), attended a closed-door seminar at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government on Thursday, according to a KMT statement on Friday.

Cheng told the seminar that peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, which she described as the greatest common denominator with US and regional interests, could be sustained “as long as Taiwan does not cross the red line of ‘de jure independence’”, a KMT statement said.

A “credible military deterrent” and “a smooth and sincere framework for dialogue” were both important to preventing conflict, Cheng added, according to the statement.

Beijing views Taiwan as part of China to be reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary. Most countries, including the US, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington opposes any attempt to change the status quo by force and is committed to supplying the island with defensive weapons.

“De jure independence” usually refers to using legal means to assert, explicitly or implicitly, that Taiwan and mainland China are two separate countries.