President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) plans to reiterate the importance of the so-called “1992 consensus” when the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) meets on Wednesday, which is the 22nd anniversary of high-level negotiations between Taiwan and China held in Singapore, MAC officials said yesterday.
In 1993, Taiwan’s then-Straits Exchange Foundation chairman Koo Chen-fu (辜振甫), and China’s then-Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits president Wang Daohan (汪道涵) held the highest-level talks ever between Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China at the time.
The “1992 consensus” refers to a supposed understanding reached during a meeting in Hong Kong in 1992 between Taiwanese and Chinese representatives, under which both sides claim to have acknowledged that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “one China” means.
In 2006, former MAC chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted he made up the term “1992 consensus” in 2000 before the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) handed over power to the Democratic Progressive Party.
Ma has repeatedly said that the “1992 consensus” is the foundation for peaceful negotiations between Taiwan and China, to which he attributes the signing of more than a dozen cross-strait agreements on a wide range of issues, including judicial assistance and tourism.
During his visit to the MAC — Taiwan’s top China policymaking body, of which Ma was once the deputy chief — the president plans to reiterate the importance of the “1992 consensus” as a “foundation for peaceful cross-strait development,” an MAC official said yesterday.
Ma is also set to look back on the achievements of his China policy over the past seven years, perhaps in a bid to bolster the confidence of KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), who is heading to Beijing for talks between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on May 4.
With regards to Chu’s China policy, KMT spokesman Yang Wei-chung (楊偉中) said Chu would give a press conference before departing for China on Saturday in which he is expected to reaffirm the need to retain the “1992 consensus” as the basis for cross-strait negotiations.
He is also expected to talk about the need to “deepen” and “update” some ideas inherent to cross-strait understanding, Yang said.
As for the agenda for Chu’s scheduled meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), Yang said they would exchange views on the prospects for cross-strait ties and other subjects related to the well-being of people on both sides of the strait.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
Greenpeace yesterday said that it is to appeal a decision last month by the Taipei High Administrative Court to dismiss its 2021 lawsuit against the Ministry of Economic Affairs over “loose” regulations governing major corporate electricity consumers. The climate-related lawsuit — the first of its kind in Taiwan — sought to require the government to enforce higher green energy thresholds on major corporations to reduce emissions in light of climate change and an uptick in extreme weather. The suit, filed by Greenpeace East Asia, the Environmental Jurists Association and four individual plaintiffs, was dismissed on May 8 following four years of litigation. The
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or
The New Taipei City Government would assist relatives of those killed or injured in last month’s car-ramming incident in Sansia District (三峽) to secure compensation, Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said yesterday, two days after the driver died in a hospital. “The city government will do its best to help the relatives of the car crash incident seek compensation,” Hou said. The mayor also said that the city’s Legal Affairs, Education and Social Welfare departments have established a joint mechanism to “provide coordinated assistance” to victims and their families. Three people were killed and 12 injured when a car plowed into schoolchildren and their
RSS