Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) on Monday called for the Mainland Affairs Council to investigate possible violations of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例) by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Chen Chen-hsiang (陳鎮湘), who led a KMT delegation to Beijing last week.
While in Beijing, Chen announced with China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) “eight points of consensus,” that touched on political issues such as Taiwanese independence.
Lee said that Chen and the KMT had announced or signed a political agreement with China without the authorization of the council, in violation of the law.
The eight points that the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) put forward during Chen’s visit, which included the upholding of the “common political foundation of the 1992 consensus and opposition against Taiwan’s [de jure] independence;” the deepening of inter-party rank-and-file exchanges between the two parties; promoting cross-strait exchanges and cooperation in agriculture, fishery and tourism and of small and middle enterprises and providing services to the marketing of agricultural and fishery products and tourist packages.
Only one of the eight points was about agricultural collaboration and the rest were all political agreements, Lee said.
“According to Article 33 of the Act, the council’s authorization is required for any party to announce a political consensus or agreement with China. Did Chen have the needed authorization in hand when he did so?” he asked Mainland Affairs Council Minister Katharine Chang (張小月) during a legislative session on Monday.
“No,” Chang said.
Lee then “reported” Chen’s violation to the council, which is the Cabinet-level agency responsible for handling affairs related to China, asking the council to levy punishment accordingly.
The council said it is still reviewing whether Chen violated the law based on the content of the agreement.
A council official said that “signing a political agreement” is defined as an official paper document undersigned by both parties and the “acts of cooperation” that need to be authorized by the council according to the law are also relatively vaguely termed.
The “1992 consensus” refers to a supposed understanding reached during cross-strait talks in 1992 that both Taiwan and China acknowledge that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what that means.
In 2006, chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted he made up the term “1992 consensus” in 2000, before the KMT handed power to the Democratic Progressive Party.
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