The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus yesterday reacted angrily to China’s suspension of official communications with Taiwan, saying that forcing Taiwanese to accept its version of the “1992 consensus” is tantamount to “blackmail and coercion.”
DPP caucus secretary-general Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡) was commenting on China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman An Fengshan’s (安峰山) rejection of Taiwan’s protest over the handover of Taiwanese fraud suspects caught overseas to the Chinese authorities.
An, while stating the reason for China ignoring Taiwan’s protest, said for the first time that the cross-strait communication mechanism was “suspended” after the new government was sworn in in Taipei last month, because the new government refuses to recognize the so-called “1992 consensus,” which he said is the political foundation for cross-strait relations that embodies the “one China” principle.
Previous Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governments have accepted the “consensus,” which refers to a tacit understanding between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait that there is only one China, with both sides free to interpret its meaning.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), in her inaugural address on May 20, said that she would work hard to maintain the existing mechanisms for dialogue and seek cooperation across the Taiwan Strait, without overtly stating her position on the “1992 consensus.”
The mechanisms to which Tsai referred include the Constitution of the Republic of China and the historical facts of 1992 that she said include “various joint acknowledgements and understandings” between the two sides of the Strait through negotiation.
For Beijing, the only “political foundation” for continued cross-strait dialogue is its version of the “1992 consensus,” with little leeway for Taiwan to assert its version of “one China.”
Wu said Taiwanese voters have chosen not to accept the “1992 consensus” by rejecting the KMT and electing a DPP government, and yet China has persistently demanded that the Tsai administration accept it — a move that he said would simply “toughen up Taiwanese determination.”
If China adamantly pushes Taiwanese to accept the “1992 consensus,” “do they mean to decide for us what to choose?” Wu said. “This is not done in any democratic country.”
He cited what the British have done in their EU membership referendum, in which each and every British citizen was able to express their will, he said.
No one will accept China’s “blackmail and coercion,” he said.
KMT legislative caucus deputy secretary-general Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said that even if the Tsai government does not accept the “1992 consensus,” it should come up with a set of measures to continue cross-strait interaction and exchanges and to solve problems arising from the current deadlock.
Tsai has said that her government is one that “solves problems,” Chiang said. “Now we’re waiting to see how she solves [cross-strait] problems.”
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