War & Peace Quote by Chen Shui-bian

“Secondly” is doing a lot of political work here: it signals a prepared agenda, not an emotional outburst, and it frames cross-Strait policy as one plank in a broader governing program. For Chen Shui-bian, a leader whose rise embodied Taiwan’s democratization and whose party carried pro-independence DNA, the choice of verbs is telling. “Continuous efforts” and “stabilising” are managerial, almost technocratic, words - language designed to soothe markets, allies, and a nervous electorate. It’s a way of saying: I’m not here to light a fuse.

The subtext is reassurance under constraint. Chen had to balance two clocks: Beijing’s intolerance for any move that smelled like formal independence, and Taiwan’s domestic pressure to protect sovereignty and identity. By aiming for “eventually reaching peace,” he places peace safely in the future tense - an aspiration rather than a concession. “Peace across the Taiwan strait” sounds reciprocal, but it also quietly shifts responsibility: if peace is the goal, any escalation can be narrated as the other side’s refusal to stabilize.

Then he widens the frame to “stability and security in the Asia Pacific region,” a classic statesman’s move that internationalizes a local flashpoint. It’s an implicit appeal to Washington and regional partners: cross-Strait tension isn’t a private quarrel; it’s a systemic risk. Chen is selling moderation as strategic necessity, trying to legitimize Taiwan’s political agency while signaling he understands the cost of miscalculation.