The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it believed Beijing would “seriously consider” a letter written by 23 Chinese Communist Party (CCP) elders calling for an end to restrictions on freedom of speech.
MAC Deputy Minister Liu Te-shun (劉德勳) said it should be the first priority of any government to respect public opinion.
“The mainland knows it well too,” he said. “I believe awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to imprisoned dissident Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波) had a certain impact on Chinese society. The Chinese government will definitely think about the request made by senior party members seriously.”
While the media have expressed doubts about how much the Chinese public knew about Liu Xiaobo winning the peace prize, Liu Te-shun said the CCP elders would not have written the letter if the public had not known anything about the award.
The deputy minister made the remarks in response to media inquiries about how much pressure the letter would produce to change policy.
In the letter addressed to the National People’s Congress, the 23 former senior officials group called for scrapping regulations that hamper freedom of speech as provided in the Chinese Constitution. The call came after Liu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and ahead of a party meeting that is expected to shape policy for the next few years.
Meanwhile, Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Yang Yi (楊毅) said on Wednesday that China understood Taiwan’s desire to participate in specialized UN agencies, but added: “As long as there won’t be two Chinas or ‘one China, one Taiwan,’ the two sides can negotiate the matter pragmatically and make appropriate arrangements.”
In response, Liu said Taipei and Beijing should cherish the current situation and reiterated that the Taiwanese government’s position on pushing peaceful and stable cross-strait relations remained unchanged.
The MAC hoped to see the two sides cooperate in the international arena based on institutionalized negotiations and deepening exchanges, Liu said.
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