Bills increase cross-Straits tensions: China Daily editorial

It is an unchangeable historical and legal fact that both sides of the Taiwan Straits belong to one China. Political parties on the island should be mindful of that, as it is a red line that cannot be crossed. They should not engage in any move that undermines this foundation for cross-Straits relations.

Yet in proposing two bills in the island's "legislative yuan", the Kuomintang Party is in danger of doing just that.

The fundamental cause of the complicated situation and tensions across the Taiwan Straits at present is that the Democratic Progressive Party in Taiwan, in colluding with external forces, has continuously taken provocative actions seeking "Taiwan independence".

The Taiwan question brooks no external interference, so it is reckless for the KMT to follow suit by urging the island's government to actively pursue restoration of formal diplomatic ties between Washington and Taipei and request US official assistance to defend the island against any future military action from the Chinese mainland.

The KMT should know that those two proposals are adding fuel to the fire as far as tensions across the Taiwan Straits are concerned, and will only make it even harder for the island to be reunified with the motherland in a peaceful manner.

The live fire exercises held near the island by the People's Liberation Army recently was a reminder to secessionists on the island that any act aimed at creating an "independent Taiwan" will be firmly opposed and crushed.

That the drills were held when US officials were visiting the island sent a clear message that any assistance from any country or region will not shake the determination of the PLA to prevent the island from being separated from the motherland.

If the KMT believes that the island is part of China, it should never have put forward the two bills. If it has changed its political principle and also seeks the "independence" of the island, it has betrayed the will of most of its members who have long sought the reunification of the island with its motherland.

The KMT should know that seeking foreign assistance for the defense of the island against a possible military action from the PLA and restoration of formal ties with the US will only make the situation across the Straits even more complicated and tense.

Whatever the US has done as far as its ties with the island are concerned, it would be foolish for the secessionists on the island to count on US military assistance to resist any action by the PLA. As US national security adviser Robert O'Brien effectively admitted at an event at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Taiwan is nothing but a pawn in the game the US is playing.

Both the KMT and the DPP should never underestimate the resolve of the PLA to defend China's territorial integrity.