Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator-at-large Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) on Friday said that if elected president, he would launch negotiations between the government and opposition parties to coin a new term to replace the so-called “1992 consensus.”
“People in the KMT and those in the pan-blue and pan-green camps are in disagreement over the term’s definition,” Wang said.
“The DPP [Democratic Progressive Party] claims that it is synonymous with ‘one country, two systems,’ which is likely not convincing,” he said.
Photo: Wu Chun-feng, Taipei Times
The KMT and China each have their own interpretation of the term, with some KMT members advocating “one China, different interpretations” and Beijing touting “one China, same interpretation.”
“Any definition that involves ‘interpretation’ is not the answer,” said Wang, who announced his bid to run for president in March.
With the term sparking divisions domestically and across the Taiwan Strait, he would hold negotiations between the ruling party and opposition parties to discuss whether to replace the “consensus” with a new term, while leaving open the option to “keep using it,” he said.
Meanwhile, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and former New Taipei City mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) said that “one China” could only mean the Republic of China (ROC).
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘), another KMT presidential hopeful, during an interview with CommonWealth Magazine said that he would never only say “1992 consensus,” but rather “1992 consensus and ‘one China, different interpretations.’”
“For the Zhonghua minzu [ethnic Chinese, 中華民族], there is one ROC and one People’s Republic of China,” Gou said.
Ma said that he took Gou to mean that the “one China” in “one China, different interpretations” refers to the ROC.
Chu, who in December last year announced that he would join the KMT’s presidential primary, urged all KMT members to heed the “consensus” as defined in the party’s “peace platform” as well as its “historical context.”
It is the KMT’s unwavering stance that “one China” refers to the ROC, he said.
Commenting on Gou’s remarks, National Taiwan Normal University professor of political science Fan Shih-ping (范世平) said that Gou’s latest cross-strait stance was not different from that espoused in the DPP’s Resolution on Taiwan’s Future or the “special state-to-state relationship” theory of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝).
China’s silence on Gou’s remarks could mean one of two things, he said.
One, it has been too preoccupied to respond, Fan said.
Two — which would be “alarming” — Gou has gained Beijing’s consent before making the remark, which would mean that the two sides had conspired together to formulate a plot to win the support of swing voters or borderline DPP supporters, he said.
The “1992 consensus — ” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted that he made up in 2000 — refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese government that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Additional reporting by Hsiao Fang-chi
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
RSS