Reiterating the importance of the so-called “1992 consensus” and anti-independence efforts as the foundation of cross-strait cooperation, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday said he hoped that both sides of the Taiwan Strait can go from “feeling as close as one family” (一家親) to “becoming actual family members” (一家人).
Hau made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the 10th annual Straits Forum in Xiamen, China.
The forum aims to boost private-sector exchanges across the Taiwan Strait and is this year focused on four areas: youth, grassroots, cultural and economic exchanges.
Photo: CNA
Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Yang (汪洋) attended the forum after meeting with Hau earlier in the day.
“The predecessor to the Straits Forum was the Forum on the Economic Zone on the Western Coast of the Taiwan Straits, which began 13 years ago amid tumultuous cross-strait relations and in response to the desire of people on both sides for peace and interactions,” Hau said in his address.
Thanks to the KMT’s unwavering adherence to the “1992 consensus” and opposition to Taiwanese independence, cross-strait relations improved during the party’s eight years in office from 2008 to 2016, including the launch of regular cross-strait passenger flights in 2009, the deepening of people-to-people interactions and the signing of 23 cross-strait accords, he said.
“However, due to reasons we are all aware of, the situation across the Taiwan Strait has become unstable and the achievements accumulated over the years are at stake,” Hau said, citing as an example the decline in the number of Chinese tourists to Taiwan from 3.98 million in 2015 to 2.73 million last year.
Beijing and the KMT have blamed the deteriorating relations on President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) refusal to acknowledge the “1992 consensus,” which refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Beijing has not acknowledged the “different interpretations” part and has only mentioned the “one China” element in its references to the “1992 consensus.”
Former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted that he made up the term in 2000.
Due to the perceived disparity between the KMT’s and Beijing’s definition of the “1992 consensus,” Hau’s remarks at the forum and at his meeting with Wang were closely watched.
As widely expected, he did not bring up the “different interpretations” component, despite mentioning the “1992 consensus” a total of five times in the two speeches.
In light of the current cross-strait stalemate, the KMT and the CCP should continue their partnership based on the “1992 consensus” and shared opposition to Taiwanese independence, while ensuring that the agreements signed by both sides continue to be observed, Hau said.
“[These agreements] are solemn promises made by both sides of the Taiwan Strait to their people. They are also indispensable preconditions for Beijing’s 31 incentives designed to promote cross-strait economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation to really have an effect,” Hau said.
He also expressed his hope that both sides, given their similar language and ethnicity, could evolve into actual family members.
Hau led a delegation of KMT members, lawmakers and academics who departed for China on Monday and are scheduled to return to Taiwan tonight.
Wang said at the forum that the “one China” principle is the “political foundation of cross-strait relations” and that the “1992 consensus” is the key to ensuring peace across the Taiwan Strait.
“Since 2016, the Democratic Progressive Party has allowed certain people to carry out a series of measures aimed at desinicization and has thwarted cross-strait exchanges and cooperation, while a small number of Taiwanese independence advocates have tried to prevent the development of a peaceful cross-strait relationship,” Wang said, adding that this has led to a standoff between the two sides.
Taiwanese independence advocates and their campaigns are a threat to China’s sovereignty and peace across the Taiwan Strait, he said, adding that they must be opposed.
“Any attempt to challenge the ‘one China’ principle and any trick and measure performed in the hope of realizing independence are doomed to fail,” he said.
Additional reporting by Chung Li-hua
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
STILL ON THE TABLE: The government is not precluding advanced nuclear power generation if it is proven safer and the nuclear waste issue is solved, the premier said Taiwan is willing to be in step with the world by considering new methods of nuclear energy generation and to discuss alternative approaches to provide more stable power generation and help support industries, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. The government would continue to develop diverse and green energy solutions, which include considering advances in nuclear energy generation, he added. Cho’s remarks echoed President William Lai’s (賴清德) comments in an interview last month, saying the government is not precluding “advanced and newer nuclear power generation” if it is proven to be safer and the issue of nuclear waste is resolved. Lai’s comment had
‘BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS’: The US military’s aim is to continue to make any potential Chinese invasion more difficult than it already is, US General Ronald Clark said The likelihood of China invading Taiwan without contest is “very, very small” because the Taiwan Strait is under constant surveillance by multiple countries, a US general has said. General Ronald Clark, commanding officer of US Army Pacific (USARPAC), the US Army’s largest service component command, made the remarks during a dialogue hosted on Friday by Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Asked by the event host what the Chinese military has learned from its US counterpart over the years, Clark said that the first lesson is that the skill and will of US service members are “unmatched.” The second
STANDING TOGETHER: Amid China’s increasingly aggressive activities, nations must join forces in detecting and dealing with incursions, a Taiwanese official said Two senior Philippine officials and one former official yesterday attended the Taiwan International Ocean Forum in Taipei, the first high-level visit since the Philippines in April lifted a ban on such travel to Taiwan. The Ocean Affairs Council hosted the two-day event at the National Taiwan University Hospital International Convention Center. Philippine Navy spokesman Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, Coast Guard spokesman Grand Commodore Jay Tarriela and former Philippine Presidential Communications Office assistant secretary Michel del Rosario participated in the forum. More than 100 officials, experts and entrepreneurs from 15 nations participated in the forum, which included discussions on countering China’s hybrid warfare