War & Peace Quote by Chen Shui-bian

Diplomacy loves a sentence that can’t be quoted back as an accusation, and Chen Shui-bian’s is built like a political airbag: it cushions impact in every direction. The vocabulary is deliberately high-minded - “mutual understanding,” “sincerity,” “goodwill,” “wisdom,” “broad views” - a stack of virtues that sounds nonpartisan but quietly sets terms. Peace is offered, but it’s also conditional: the “leaders on both sides” must possess the maturity to rise above narrower, more confrontational instincts. That’s praise as pressure.

The phrase “both sides” is the tell. In cross-strait politics, naming is strategy. Saying “both sides” signals dialogue and parity without locking Taiwan into Beijing’s preferred framing (“one China”) or Taipei’s most assertive one (“state-to-state”). It keeps the door open while refusing to walk through it on someone else’s map. “Jointly initiate” likewise implies agency and equality: not requests to a superior, but a co-authored agenda.

Then there’s the pragmatic sweetener: “cooperation and mutual benefit.” Chen isn’t selling ideals alone; he’s marketing a bargain. Stability is presented as an investment with returns, an argument designed for wary domestic audiences and international observers who prize predictability over symbolism.

Context matters: Chen governed Taiwan during a period of intensified cross-strait tension and fierce domestic contestation over identity. This kind of language functions as strategic moderation - a bid to appear responsible, to reassure markets and allies, and to shift the burden of escalation onto the other side. If peace fails, the implication is not that the offer was absent, but that the requisite “wisdom” was.