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On September 10, United Daily News inaccurately reported that I stated on a panel discussion at the Atlantic Council the prior day that DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen should accept the 1992 Consensus and the existence of “one China.” The video of the event is posted on youtube, so there is no dispute over what I actually said. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTqxmGb5npY. The statement in question can be heard at approximately minute 58.

In response to a question about what Chinese President Xi Jinping might say to President Obama, I speculated that Xi would encourage the US to play a more proactive role to ensure the preservation of cross-Strait stability, and that in order to achieve this, he might say “there must be acceptance by Taiwan’s next president of the 1992 Consensus, and more importantly, 'One China.'” UDN’s reporter in Washington DC faithfully reported my words in his story, but the editors in Taipei deliberately created a headline to mislead readers to think that I personally urged Tsai Ing-wen to accept the 1992 Consensus and “One China.”

This is not the first time that some Taiwanese media have distorted my statements to support their political agenda. I am an independent American scholar and I do not want to be a pawn in Taiwan’s politics, especially during the election season. I urge the media in Taiwan to respect the integrity and freedom of American scholars to speak out their mind without the fear that their statements will be distorted or they will be quoted out of context.

I appreciate the fact that at my request, UDN has revised the erroneous headline. I ask that this statement be published in their newspaper at the earliest possible time.

Bonnie Glaser
Senior Adviser for Asia
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Washington, DC