The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) will continue to be a “second-track” mechanism for cross-strait peace, KMT Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said yesterday as he attended the fifth Yunnan-Taiwan Economic and Cultural Exchange Seminar in China.
Hau delivered an opening speech at the conference, calling the so-called “1992 consensus” the foundation for the development of the cross-strait relationship in the past two decades.
According to a version of the speech Hau posted on Facebook, he said: “Although there were ups and downs during the years, we have been moving in the direction of peaceful development, especially in the realm of cross-strait economic exchanges.”
“Taiwan saw yet another transfer of political power last month. While there has been some stoppage in terms of political exchanges, I believe that the cross-strait economic, trade and non-governmental exchanges should never be halted, since the fruit of economic development is where the wellbeing of the people on both sides of the Strait lies and is the core of the cross-strait relationship,” he said.
“The KMT will not be depressed because of the electoral defeat, but will continue to play the role of the ‘second-track mechanism’ in maintaining cross-strait peace and development,” he added.
Beijing has proposed the “One Belt, One Road” initiative and has helped Taiwanese businesspeople move into inland China, Hau said, adding that Taiwanese enterprises would also play a role in Yunnan, which is one of the key areas of the initiative.
As Taiwanese companies are looking for more opportunities in western China and in the ASEAN region after facing stiff competition and rising labor costs in China’s coastal provinces, “complementary cooperation between Yunnan and Taiwan would produce great results,” Hua said.
According to the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper), Hau said he believes that Yunnan Province will transform from “an end tip” into a major center in the country’s opening to Southeast Asia and South Asia.
The Liberty Times and other local media also reported that Hau’s speech appealed to the idea that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to the same Zhonghua minzu (中華民族, Chinese ethnic group) and that the people of both nations are the “descendants of the legendary emperors Yan and Huang (炎黃子孫),” which was not mentioned in his Facebook post.
Hau reportedly met with Long Mingbiao (龍明彪), Chinese Communist Party committee secretary of Yunnan Province and deputy director of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, after arriving in Kunming on Thursday night.
He reportedly told Long that Beijing should not close off informal exchanges by banning Chinese visitors and students from coming to Taiwan for political reasons.
The first Yunnan-Taiwan Economic and Cultural Exchange Seminar was held in 2012, which was attended by former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and then-KMT vice chairman Lin Feng-cheng (林豐正).
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