Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which is likely to be voted into power in elections next month, is open to improving ties with China, a senior party member said on Friday.

Chen Chu, a ranking DPP leader and mayor of Taiwan's second largest city Kaoshiung, said her party is open to engaging China on friendlier terms, but adds that improving Taiwan's relationship with its neighbor across the Formosa Strait will require trust on both sides.     

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China has long regarded Taiwan as a breakaway province, to be taken by force if its leaders insist on a more decisive separation from the mainland.  Taiwan, meanwhile, continues to position itself as an independent nation in its dealings with the international community. 

"We feel the trust in the relationship between the DPP and the Beijing government is very thin, very weak," Chen said in an interview with Reuters. "I think with more goodwill and more exchanges, we can slowly build the trust between the two sides." 

The DPP has built a strong political bulwark in Taiwan's younger voters, many of whom are angered by the policies of the ruling Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), which they say have led to economic dependence on the mainland.  The results of a poll conducted by the Taiwanese Cross-Strait Policy Association have the DPP's presidential ticket commanding a 30 percentage point lead against its rival, according to the Asia Times.

The DPP, however, is not on good terms with Beijing, which believes the party advocates for an independent Taiwan.  Beijing had angrily accused the first DPP president Chen Shui Bian of pushing for Taiwanese independence during his 2000 to 2008 term. 

While Beijing's relationship with the KMT is no less frosty, some analysts claim that China views the South China Sea as an opportunity for cooperation between Beijing and Taiwan's ruling party. 

In a column for Lawfare, Professor Julian Ku of the Hofstra University School of Law writes, "The current Taiwan government tacitly supports China's expansive claims in the region by adhering to identical claims." Ku likewise points out that "Taiwan's government originated the '9 Dash Line' claim now espoused by China."       

Thus far, the DPP's Tsai Ing-wen, who is likely to become Taiwan's first woman president, has said little about her intended policies toward the Beijing government or the South China Sea except to say she aims to "establish constructive dialogue with China."     

Chen's language is more revealing, if not more optimistic.  

"We should have a different start," she said.  Referring to Tsai, she then adds, "She is a leader who is willing to create more goodwill between the two sides, for the sake of Taiwan." 

TagsTaiwan, China-Taiwan relations, People's Republic of China, Kaohshiung, Chen Chu, kmt, dpp, 9 Dash Line