Taiwan Affairs Office Calls United Front 'Open and Aboveboard'; Mainland Affairs Council: It Spoke a Great Truth

(CNA) Taipei, July 9 - China's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) stated yesterday that "the work of the united front has been carried out for many years and is open and aboveboard." The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) responded today that the TAO spoke a great truth, as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) likes to emphasize and highlight united front activities, which are precisely the kind of activities the government does not want Taiwanese people to participate in.

The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) held its regular press conference this afternoon, hosted by Deputy Minister and Spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh.

TAO spokesperson Chen Binhua said at a regular press conference yesterday that the work of the united front has been carried out for many years and is open and aboveboard, and that its work towards Taiwan has always adhered to the "fundamental interests of the Chinese nation and the common interests of people on both sides of the strait." He accused the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of repeatedly "stigmatizing" the united front, asking, "In their eyes, is there still normal cross-strait exchange?"

"Yesterday, the TAO spoke a great truth," Liang Wen-chieh responded today. He explained that in the CCP's vocabulary, the united front is not something to be ashamed of, but rather one of the "three magic weapons" with which the former CCP leader Mao Zedong said the CCP defeated its enemies. For the CCP, there is no need to shy away from the united front; the key is "whether we are willing to accept it."

Liang Wen-chieh provided a simple definition of "united front." He said that the united front involves befriending people outside the CCP and then mobilizing these friends to help achieve the CCP's political goals, speak for the CCP, and do things for the CCP. Therefore, the united front has targets, and its method is "making friends." He added that it should not be necessary to list which CCP activities fit this definition.

He stated that there are certainly normal exchange activities across the strait that do not involve the united front, such as travel fairs. There are many normal cross-strait exchange activities apart from the united front, but the CCP likes to emphasize those deliberately organized united front activities. These united front activities happen to be the ones the government does not want Taiwanese people to participate in and endorse, and this is the difference between the two sides.

Yesterday, Chen Binhua heavily criticized the director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), Sandra Oudkirk, at a regular press conference.

Liang Wen-chieh said that the CCP's public criticism of Oudkirk is intended to prevent what they perceive as the "Trump-Xi consensus" from being undermined. However, Taiwan-U.S. relations are fundamentally stable, regardless of any consensus the mainland side believes it has reached with the U.S. government; Taiwan-U.S. relations are stable and lasting. (Edited by Lu Chia-jung) 1150709

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