Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) on Sunday once again denied the existence of the so-called “1992 consensus” allegedly reached by cross-strait representatives almost two decades ago.
“There is no such consensus, but some people continue to maintain that it exists. Politicians should not tell [lies] to the public,” Lee, who was president between 1988 and 2000, told an event held to celebrate his upcoming birthday.
Instead, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), a party he once headed, has used the so-called consensus as a mask for its unification agenda, Lee said.
The so-called “1992 consensus” referred to by the KMT basically means “one China” and should be of serious concern to Taiwan, he said.
“Taiwan is a democracy and a sovereign and independent country; we should not be talking on the issue of ‘one China’ with communist China,” he said.
His comments are the latest denial of the so-called consensus, defined by the KMT as a tacit agreement that there is only “one China” — the meaning of which is open to interpretation. The accord was reached by cross-strait -representatives after a meeting in 1992, according to the KMT.
However, numerous high--profile politicians have denied that this agreement ever took place, despite the consensus now becoming official government policy. The late Koo Chen-fu (辜振甫), the former Straits Exchange Foundation chairman who led talks with China during that period, has denied that a consensus was ever reached.
Former KMT legislator Su Chi (蘇起), who later became head of the National Security Council, admitted in February 2006 that he made up the term in 2000 — when he was head of the Mainland Affairs Council — to break the cross-strait deadlock and alleviate tension.
On Thursday, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) challenged Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to clearly state whether her party acknowledged the so-called consensus between Taiwan and China. He said such recognition was the “bedrock” for cross-strait peace.
Tsai yesterday said the president should have first asked himself whether the so-called “1992 consensus” actually existed. The DPP has never acknowledged the existence of the consensus or of “one China,” she said.
Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwestern region near China, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years. The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea. “Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country ... while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. “This is an extremely important initiative for
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
FIRST TRIAL: Ko’s lawyers sought reduced bail and other concessions, as did other defendants, but the bail judge denied their requests, citing the severity of the sentences Former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was yesterday sentenced to 17 years in prison and had his civil rights suspended for six years over corruption, embezzlement and other charges. Taipei prosecutors in December last year asked the Taipei District Court for a combined 28-year, six-month sentence for the four cases against Ko, who founded the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The cases were linked to the Core Pacific City (京華城購物中心) redevelopment project and the mismanagement of political donations. Other defendants convicted on separate charges included Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇), who was handed a 15-year, six-month sentence; Core Pacific
RSS