Kuomintang vice chairman Chang Jung-kung, visiting Japan, has met Japanese politicians and told them the party has the experience and methods to achieve peaceful development of cross-strait relations. If Taiwan is at peace, he said, Japan need not worry about a contingency of its own. Chang also gave an interview to the Yomiuri Shimbun and dined with academics and media figures.
Whom did Chang meet? The KMT said in a September 20 press release that Chang had met members of both houses of Japan's Diet, among them Rintaro Ogata, Muneo Suzuki, Koichi Hagiuda, Gen Nakatani and Akira Nagatsuma, CNA reported. A photo supplied by the party shows Chang with Ogata, a member of the House of Representatives.
What did he say the trip was for? Chang said the visit had three main aims, CNA reported. The first was to strengthen ties after a decade in which the KMT, out of power, had had less contact with Japan, and to help Japanese circles better understand its ability to keep the Taiwan Strait peaceful and stable as it prepares to return to government in 2028. The second arose from ten years of Democratic Progressive Party rule that, he said, had left the Strait very tense, with official cross-strait communication mechanisms completely cut off and the mainland staging six encirclement drills aimed at Taiwan independence. As a responsible opposition party, he said, the KMT should convey to countries including Japan that it can achieve peaceful cross-strait development. The third was to brief his hosts on the active cross-strait line pursued by 
Cheng Li-wun since she became KMT chair last November, with emphasis on her April visit to the mainland.
What did he tell his hosts about China? No country dealing with mainland China, Japan included, can avoid "one China," Chang said. He said the KMT's stance of the "1992 Consensus" and opposing Taiwan independence fits the "one China framework" of the Republic of China constitution and had proven effective for peace and stability in the Strait for more than 30 years. The mainland has held no encirclement drills so far this year, he said, showing that high-level KMT-Chinese Communist Party dialogue and cross-strait civil exchanges help ease relations.
How did the Japanese side respond? The Japanese interlocutors all expressed strong concern for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, the party said in the statement carried by CNA. They hope to continue exchanges with the KMT, it said.
Figures referenced: Cheng Li-wun. — JudgeMarket.
