Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen advocated Saturday what she called a 'pragmatic China policy' based on the principles of independent sovereignty for Taiwan and peaceful engagement with China. Tsai, who is seeking reelection as head of the main opposition DPP, made the remarks at a forum where the two candidates for party leadership presented policy statements. She said the DPP would not refuse to engage China to deepen mutual understanding between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait as long as Beijing sets no preconditions for the cross-strait exchanges. Tsai said she would seek to enlarge Taiwan's say in cross-strait affairs and that engagement with China would not involve amendments to the DPP's Taiwan independence guideline. During the eight years in power before 2008, the DPP contributed largely to heightening the public's sense of a 'Taiwan identity, ' with most of the country's citizens seeing themselves as 'Taiwanese.' For the future, Tsai said the DPP should seek to further solidify the sense of 'Taiwan identity.' Tsai said it is the duty of 'this generation of 23 million Taiwan people' to strive for the right of their future generations to decide whether Taiwan should seek independence from or unify with China. 'The right of future generations to make choices should not be written off by either engagement with China or globalization, 'she added. DPP will elect a new chairman May 23. Tsai is being challenged by former Taipei County Magistrate You Ching in the race. 