Rather than airing internal differences over a proposed freeze of the DPP charter’s independence clause at the July 20th DPP National Party Congress, Tsai Ing-wen sent the freeze proposal to the party’s Central Executive Committee for consideration. Taiwan Security Research’s Kristian McGuire** speaks with Alan Romberg, distinguished fellow and director of the East Asia program at the Stimson Center, about the independence clause issue, the recent National Conference on Economic and Trade Affairs, and more in this TSR exclusive interview.
Kristian McGuire: Currently, there is a debate going on within the DPP over whether or not to freeze the independence clause in the party’s charter prior to the 2016 presidential election. Former DPP legislator Julian Kuo has said that the freeze is intended, not to gain CCP support, but to allow the U.S. to remain neutral in the election. In your estimate, would the U.S. government welcome a freeze of the independence clause, and conversely, would it be difficult for the U.S. to remain completely neutral in the 2016 election without a freeze?
Alan Romberg: The basic point I would make is that the U.S. wants to see a calm and constructive relationship across the Strait. So whatever contributes to that is good from the U.S. point of view, whatever detracts from that is bad.
To read the full interview, click here.