Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Katharine Chang (張小月) yesterday urged Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) to refrain from inking a cross-strait peace accord with Beijing without the government’s authorization, adding that Hung’s upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) would be a non-governmental exchange.
Chang made the remarks during a question-and-answer session with People First Party Legislator Chen Yi-chieh (陳怡潔) at a meeting of the legislature’s Internal Administrative Committee.
Hung is expected to meet with Xi in Beijing on Tuesday.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
“We must remind [the KMT] that while this [meeting] is a non-governmental exchange, it must nevertheless conform to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例),” Chang said.
Chang also said that the KMT should not sign any agreements with China on issues that pertain to public authority without the government’s authorization, particularly a peace accord.
The Hung-Xi meeting, which is to be held prior to the KMT-Chinese Communist Party annual get-together in Beijing on Wednesday and Thursday, has raised concerns across party lines.
Some KMT members have said that Hung might propose that the formula of “one China, same interpretation” be used to replace the “one China, different interpretations” framework, which is endorsed by one of Hung’s predecessors as KMT chair, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
Such worries intensified after the KMT national congress last month passed a new policy platform that only mentions the “different interpretations” aspect of the so-called “1992 consensus” once in the introduction as part of the party’s history and omits the term in latter parts of the platform, which sets out the party’s main policies.
Outside the KMT, people have speculated that Hung could strike a deal with Beijing that moves Taiwan closer to unification, as one of the missions set forth in the party’s new platform is to explore the possibility of ending cross-strait hostility by signing a peace accord.
The “1992 consensus” refers to a tacit understanding between the 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. Former MAC chairman Su Chi (蘇起) has said that he had made up the term in 2000.
Asked whether cross-strait relations would be affected should Hung reiterate the “1992 consensus” and the “one China, different interpretations” framework in Beijing, Chang said the council would pay close attention to Hung’s remarks and any developments.
“The government has repeatedly stated its stance on the ‘1992 consensus’ and ... even among themselves [KMT members] there are different opinions on ‘one China,’” Chang said.
President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration has so far merely acknowledged the “1992 talks,” rather than accepting the “1992 consensus,” while repeatedly reiterating her “new four noes” for cross-strait relations: No changes to pledges, no changes to goodwill, no bowing to pressure and no reversion to the old path of confrontation.
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