Former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) on Saturday proposed that Taiwan and China formulate a statute governing relations between the two sides’ governments to deal with issues across the Taiwan Strait.
Hsieh made the proposal while delivering a keynote speech on cross-strait relations and government reforms at Tamkang University. He said that the two nations have reached a bottleneck in their efforts to discard their differences in pursuit of common ground, which could easily lead to conflicts between them in the international community.
If the two sides want to achieve peaceful coexistence, they have to face their differences head on, Hsieh said. Only by facing up to historical facts can the two sides find solutions to cross-strait problems, he said.
Hsieh said that the two countries should accept their differences in the interpretations of each other’s constitutions, which would entail Taipei and Beijing reaching a consensus on each side having their own interpretation of what “China” means according to their respective constitutions.
The former premier said that the two countries should initiate dialogue over the two constitutions, adding that “the Republic of China is Taiwan, Taiwan is the Republic of China: this is a fact.”
“We [Taiwan] currently have the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), but we do not have an act governing relations between the governments on the two sides,” Hsieh said.
He added that negotiations are needed to address issues related to the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China.
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