Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) got into an argument with former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) at a dinner for KMT top brass on Monday, sources said, amid a debate within the party about interpretations of the so-called “1992 consensus.”
Ma hosted the dinner for senior party members and former vice chairmen who served during his tenure as party chairman to discuss the “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted to making up in 2000 that refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese government that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Sixteen high-level party officials were at the banquet, including former vice president Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫), KMT Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), former KMT vice chairman Jason Hu (胡志強) and former KMT secretary-general King Pu-tsung (金溥聰).
Photo: Lin Cheng-kun, Taipei Times
A source at the dinner who declined to be named said Hung was seated directly across from Ma, but refused to make eye contact with him and arrived for at the event, which started at 6:30pm, at 7:40pm, citing fundraising activities for her lateness.
Discussions before Hung’s arrival were focused on party assets and “special party fees” that Hung proposed to address the issue of low funds, with Ma saying he would be willing to contribute NT$200,000, the source said.
After Hung’s arrival Ma, steered the discussion toward the “one China” issue, with the source quoting him as saying: “The 1992 consensus is essentially ‘one China, different interpretations.’”
The source added that Ma said he would “prefer to repeat himself rather than have this point overlooked.”
Hung avoided looking at Ma throughout the dinner and fixed her makeup whenever he spoke, the source said.
At one point, the source quoted Hung as saying to Ma: “I already know everything you’re saying, but negotiations between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are complex.”
Ma said that he realized he might offend others by pressing the issue, but added that he is simply an old, retired man who genuinely wants to see the party caucus resolve the issue, the source said.
While no problems would arise from him not mentioning “one China, different interpretations” in the context of the “1992 consensus,” there are others who would cause problems by not explicitly using the entire phrase, Ma was quoted as saying.
The source said that while Ma was discussing the issue, Hung interjected, asking: “Does the 1992 consensus not also mention the issue of peaceful unification of both sides of the Taiwan Strait?”
Hung questioned Ma’s emphasis on “one China, different interpretations” while failing to bring up “unification,” the source added.
Another attendee told Hung she had confused the Guidelines for National Unification with the “1992 consensus,” showing Hung the details on a smartphone, the source said.
In an interview following the banquet, Ma told reporters that the KMT must be united on the issue of the “1992 consensus of one China, different interpretations.”
Hung’s “peace platform” that was passed last month mentioned a “deepening of the 1992 consensus,” but omitted any mention of “one China, different interpretations,” which sparked conflict within the party about the direction of cross-strait relations.
When asked by reporters whether Hung would mention “one China, different interpretations” in a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) next week, Ma said: “She understands completely. She heard everything [that Ma said].”
KMT Central Policy Committee director Alex Tsai (蔡正元) yesterday said local media used “sensational and dramatic language” in reports of the event.
High-level KMT officials invited to the event spent most of the time discussing the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee’s “illegal and unconstitutional” freezing of the party’s main bank account, Tsai said.
“At the banquet, Ma, maintaining his usual caring attitude toward the KMT, also explained to guests the reasons behind his painstaking effort to push for the ‘1992 consensus’ and the ‘one China, different interpretations’ formulation while in office,” Tsai said.
Additional reporting by Stacy Hsu
TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT: A US Air Force KC-135 tanker came less than 1,000 feet of an EVA plane and was warned off by a Taipei air traffic controller, a report said A US aerial refueling aircraft came very close to an EVA Airways jet in the airspace over southern Taiwan, a military aviation news Web site said. A report published by Alert 5 on Tuesday said that automatic dependent surveillance–broadcast (ADS-B) data captured by planfinder.net on Wednesday last week showed a US Air Force KC-135 tanker “coming less than 1,000 feet [305m] vertically with EVA Air flight BR225 as both aircraft crossed path south of Taiwan” that morning. The report included an audio recording of a female controller from the Taipei air traffic control center telling the unidentified aircraft that it was
A series of discussions on the legacy of martial law and authoritarianism are to be held at the Taipei International Book Exhibition this month, featuring findings and analysis by the Transitional Justice Commission. The commission and publisher Book Republic organized the series, entitled “Escaping the Nation’s Labyrinth of Memory: What Authoritarian Symbols and Records Can Tell Us,” to help people navigate narratives through textual analysis and comparisons with other nations. The four-day series is to begin on Thursday next week with a discussion between commission Chairwoman Yang Tsui (楊翠), Polish-language translator Lin Wei-yun (林蔚昀), and Polish author and artist Pawel Gorecki comparing
MOVING OUT: A former professor said that rent and early education costs in Taipei are the nation’s highest, which makes it difficult for young people to start families The population of Taipei last year fell to the lowest in 23 years due to high rent, more transportation options and the expansion of northern cities into a single metropolis, academics and city officials said on Monday. Data released this month by the Ministry of the Interior showed that the capital was home to 2,602,418 people last year, down 42,623 from 2019. The decline is second only to 1993, when the population fell by 42,828 people, while Taipei’s population was the lowest it has been since 1997. Taipei saw the biggest drop among the six special municipalities, while Taoyuan led the group in
A US aircraft carrier group led by the USS Theodore Roosevelt has entered the South China Sea to promote “freedom of the seas,” the US military said yesterday, as tensions between China and Taiwan raise concerns in Washington. US Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement that the strike group entered the South China Sea on Saturday, the same day Taiwan reported a large incursion of Chinese bombers and fighter jets into its air defense identification zone near the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). The US military said the carrier strike group was in the South China Sea, a large part of which
RSS