Not too much should be read into Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) mention of Taiwan’s Constitution, Soochow University professor and former DPP legislator Julian Kuo (郭正亮) said yesterday.
When asked about the future of cross-strait relations at a Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) forum last week, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said that he “hoped and expected” that president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) would “accept the provision in Taiwan’s own Constitution that the mainland and Taiwan belong to one, the same China” before taking power on May 20.
While Wang appeared to equate the constitutional provision with Beijing’s “one China” principle, his remarks drew attention because they were reportedly the first time Beijing officials have explicitly mentioned the Constitution instead of referring to “Taiwan’s laws and relevant regulations.”
They also drew notice for mentioning the “political foundation of cross-strait relations” without explicitly referring to the so-called “1992 consensus.”
The “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted making up in 2000, refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Beijing that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Wang’s remarks should not be interpreted over-optimistically, because Beijing’s position has not really shifted, Kuo said
Beijing has always said that the “1992 consensus” is a framework that has validity only between the KMT and Chinese Communist Party, and it accepts that a new frame of reference for cross-strait relations might need to be forged with the DPP, Kuo said, citing a conversation with CSIS analyst Bonnie Glaser.
According to a message passed on by Glaser in 2012, Wang said in closed-door talks that if the DPP refused to acknowledge the “1992 consensus,” China could discuss the possibility of some “new understanding,” Kuo said.
President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) assertion that Wang’s remarks are an official acknowledgment of the existence of the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution is an example of him “hearing only what he wanted to hear” which fails to take into consideration the context of Wang’s statement, Kuo said, noting that Wang made no mention that the constitutions and leaders on both sides of the Taiwan Strait had equivalent stature.
In reality, Wang Yi’s remarks only added a new “bottom line” to Beijing’s existing position that “both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one China,” and represent an attempt to seize control of the direction of cross-strait relations and pre-emptively absolve itself of responsibility for a possible gridlock, Kuo said.
China is seeking to control how “maintaining the ‘status quo’” should be interpreted and to confine the incoming administration’s ability to maneuver by equating any move away from the “one China constitution” with breaking the “status quo.”
Additional reporting by Abraham Gerber
LOUD AND PROUD Taiwan might have taken a drubbing against Australia and Japan, but you might not know it from the enthusiasm and numbers of the fans Taiwan might not be expected to win the World Baseball Classic (WBC) but their fans are making their presence felt in Tokyo, with tens of thousands decked out in the team’s blue, blowing horns and singing songs. Taiwanese fans have packed out the Tokyo Dome for all three of their games so far and even threatened to drown out home team supporters when their team played Japan on Friday. They blew trumpets, chanted for their favorite players and had their own cheerleading squad who dance on a stage during the game. The team struggled to match that exuberance on the field, with
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
A Taiwanese man apologized on Friday after saying in a social media post that he worked with Australia to provide scouting reports on Taiwan’s team, enabling Australia’s victory in this year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC), saying it was a joke and that he did not hold any position with foreign teams or Taiwan’s sports training center. Chen Po-hao (陳柏豪) drew the rage of many Taiwan baseball fans when he posted online on Thursday night, claiming credit for Australia’s 3-0 win over Taiwan in the opening game for Pool C, saying he worked as a physical therapist with the national team and
RSS