TAIPEI (TVBS News) — In a pointed appeal directed at Chinese leadership, Wu Feng-shan (吳豐山), chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation (海基會, SEF), Taiwan's semi-official organization handling relations with mainland China in the absence of formal diplomatic ties, called on Beijing to halt its escalating military activities around the island and abandon tactics aimed at sowing internal division among Taiwan's 23 million residents. Speaking at the 12th session of the SEF board and supervisors on Friday (June 6), Wu articulated a vision of cross-strait relations centered on shared economic advancement rather than confrontation, suggesting that continued provocations undermine possibilities for constructive dialogue between the democratic island and its authoritarian neighbor.
The veteran diplomat characterized his organization's ongoing efforts to maintain stability across the 100-mile-wide Taiwan Strait as "a long and unpredictable journey" fraught with diplomatic challenges and security concerns. Wu directly addressed his mainland counterpart organization, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (海協會, ARATS), Beijing's designated body for handling Taiwan affairs, urging it to cultivate an atmosphere of genuine goodwill rather than antagonism. With notable candor, he emphasized that terminology frequently employed by Beijing officials — particularly references to "united front" tactics, a historical Communist Party strategy for absorbing non-communist entities — and the now-routine military aircraft and naval vessel incursions into Taiwan's air defense identification zone and surrounding waters evoke strongly negative reactions among the Taiwanese public.
In a nuanced appeal to historical consciousness, Wu referenced the common experience of foreign subjugation that marks both Chinese and Taiwanese collective memory — alluding to the century of Western and Japanese imperialism that shaped modern East Asian identities. This shared historical trauma, he suggested, should inform a more respectful cross-strait dialogue free from the "humiliating, provocative, or mocking language" that has characterized recent Chinese Communist Party communications regarding Taiwan. The chairman highlighted a fundamental contradiction in Beijing's approach: while Chinese officials routinely emphasize cultural and ethnic kinship between mainland Chinese and Taiwanese people as justification for eventual unification, their increasingly aggressive military posturing and rhetorical hostility have primarily succeeded in heightening anxiety and reinforcing separate identity among Taiwan's population.
Concluding his remarks with what analysts might characterize as a diplomatic olive branch wrapped around a challenge, Wu issued a direct appeal to China's leadership echelon to fundamentally reconsider its Taiwan policy framework. "If China's leadership is willing to adopt a different perspective and make bold adjustments," the chairman stated, repeating his central thesis, "it would help promote peaceful development across the Taiwan Strait." The carefully worded statement — delivered amid rising regional tensions and increased international focus on Taiwan's strategic importance in global semiconductor supply chains and Indo-Pacific security architecture — appeared designed to place responsibility for improving relations squarely on Beijing while signaling Taiwan's continued openness to dialogue under conditions that respect the island's democratic governance and de facto autonomy. ◼