Saying that it was impossible for Taiwan and China to recognize each other based on their respective constitutions, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) proposed yesterday that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge what he termed "mutual non-denial."
Ma said the KMT supports the idea of each side of the Strait having its own interpretation of "one China." He said that as long as China and Taiwan could reach the status of what he termed as "mutual non-denial," they would spontaneously refer back to the so-called "1992 consensus."
"This [mutual non-denial] is the minimum requirement," Ma told reporters during a visit to Humayun's Tomb in New Delhi on the second day of his two-day trip to India.
"If we could put aside controversies through this [mutual non-denial] format, we could jointly address the more urgent and substantial issues," he said.
Ma said the idea of "mutual non-denial" could not be used to resolve the cross-strait stalemate immediately. It could be used as a first measure to change the attitudes on both sides and create more room for discussion, he said.
"The pursuit of legal independence is the pursuit of an illusion," he said.
"Those who pursue this will have big disappointment once they are disillusioned," he said.
Commenting on Ma's remarks, Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said in Taipei yesterday: "Taiwan does not deny China, it is China which is denying Taiwan's international space."
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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