The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) on Tuesday included the so-called “1992 consensus” into the draft amendments to its policy guidelines.
KMT sources said the draft amendments have been sent to delegates of the party’s national congress for review and commentary. The party plans to forge a consensus and submit a final version for approval at the national congress on July 19, they said.
A team convened by KMT Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) recently completed the draft amendments.
On cross-strait policy, the KMT guidelines originally said that it would push for the realization of the “five-point vision,” including promoting cross-strait economic exchanges, the termination of cross-strait animosity and party-to-party regular communications platforms, reached by former vice president and then-KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and then-Chinese Communist Party general secretary Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) in 2005.
However, the draft amendment on cross-strait releations now includes: “steadfastly abiding by the Republic of China Constitution and cementing the 1992 consensus.”
The “1992 consensus” refers to a supposed tacit understanding reached during cross-strait talks in 1992 that Taiwan and China each acknowledge that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “one China” means.
Former KMT legislator Su Chi (蘇起) in February 2006 said that he made up the term in 2000, when he was head of the Mainland Affairs Council head of the tranfer of power to a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration.
The DPP rejects the existence of the “1992 consensus.”
Normally, the KMT revises its party guidelines every four years.
However, the party began to revise the guidelines after New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) took over as KMT chairman in January, and launched an effort to reform the party ahead of next year’s presidential and legislative elections, which are scheduled for January.
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