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SEF may avoid mention of ‘consensus’

The government will consider asking the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) not to mention the so-called “1992 consensus” during its talks with Beijing’s Association on Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) next week, Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) said yesterday.

“The government only authorized the SEF to discuss the two issues [direct charter flights and Chinese tourists] during the meeting. Negotiations on political issues are not included,” Liu said yesterday during a question-and-answer session at the Legislative Yuan.

Liu made the remarks in response to comments by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯), who urged the government not to include the “1992 consensus” in any documents to be signed by the SEF and ARATS in order to defend the country’s sovereignty.

The SEF and ARATS will hold cross-strait talks in Beijing from June 12 to June 14 on direct charter flights and opening Taiwan to Chinese tourists.

The Beijing talks will be the first official cross-strait negotiations since 1999.

“The ‘1992 consensus’ means ‘one China principle’ for China and it would be belittling Taiwan’s sovereignty if any formal documents mentioned the consensus,” Tsai said.

The “1992 consensus” refers to a fictional consensus said to have been reached between Chinese and Taiwanese negotiators during talks in Hong Kong that posits “one China, with each side having its own interpretation.”

The KMT has said the “1992 consensus” means “one China, with each side having its own interpretation,” while, Beijing has said that both sides agreed on the “one China” principle during the meeting.

Liu yesterday repeated the KMT’s interpretation of the “1992 consensus,” but added that the upcoming cross-strait talks between the SEF and ARATS would not address political issues.

“The SEF was not authorized to discuss the issue of the ‘1992 consensus,’” he said.

Meanwhile, DPP Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) yesterday questioned Mainland Affairs Council chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) on the government’s failure to include the issue of cargo charter flights in the SEF-ARATS talks.

The DPP has criticized the government for what it has called a rush to deliver on President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) campaign promises of cross-strait weekend passenger charter flights and Chinese tourists coming to Taiwan on July 4.

The DPP said the most important issue of cross-strait cargo charter flights had been left out and that these flights were urgently needed by Taiwan, Taiwanese businesspeople operating in China and foreign businesspeople investing in Taiwan.

In response, Lai said the issue would be included in the discussion on the weekend charter flights.

Because of recent gas price hikes and the complexity of cargo charter fights, however, it would be difficult for both sides to implement the cargo charter flights soon, Lai said.

Tsai urged Liu and Lai to focus the SEF-ARATS negotiations on the cargo charter flight, as Taiwan would benefit more from the measure.

Additional reporting by CNA
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