The Executive Yuan announced that our nation, under the designation “Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu,” has already officially applied to join the “Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership” (CPTPP). Regarding this matter, the Kuomintang (KMT) states that during the five years that President Tsai Ing-wen has held office, she has merely made empty promises without concrete actions in preparation for Taiwan’s participation in the CPTPP, which has high barriers of entry. She has apparently failed to prudently make comprehensive evaluations and communicate with society on this matter, yet her administration has now made a sudden announcement of its CPTPP application. This bizarre situation must be laid bare for all walks of life to examine.
The KMT points out that countries or separate customs territories that intend to apply to join the CPTPP must conduct unofficial consultations with existing members, including the United Kingdom and mainland China, which have already both formally applied. The DPP government’s application is already too late, and is very likely a passive reaction to being forced by the Chinese Communist Party authorities’ moves and pressure. As a result, it won’t be surprising if “prudent evaluations can be put off and ample communication comes rather slowly” for the DPP’s application.
Finally, the KMT hopes that the DPP administration face reality head-on; its usage of the identity and designation of “Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu” in order to apply to join the CPTPP indicates that the ruling party, which has been “anti-China” for years, cannot bypass cross-Strait political barriers. Therefore, the DPP mustn’t continue its double standards: it itself uses the designations of “Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu” and “Chinese Taipei,” but when the KMT was holding office and utilized these names, the KMT was deliberately tagged with so called “minimizing Taiwan sovereignty” and other baffling, malicious political labels.
