Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday said that characterizations of the so-called “1992 consensus” by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) were incorrect.
On Wednesday, Xi said in a speech that Taiwan “must and will be” united with China based on the “1992 consensus” and under the “one China” principle.
He proposed a Taiwanese version of the “one country, two systems” model to achieve “peaceful unification.”
Photo: Liao Hsueh-ju, Taipei Times
In response, Tsai said she rejects the “consensus,” as its goal is “Taiwan’s unification with China.”
The “consensus,” as defined by Beijing, is in fact the “one China” principle and the “one China, two systems” formula, she said.
Wu said that the KMT’s definition of the “1992 consensus” involves the free interpretation of “one China” by either side and rejected Xi’s inclusion of the “one country, two systems” framework as part of the “consensus.”
“The free interpretation of one China is in fact the 1992 consensus,” Wu said.
Tsai’s denial of the existence of the “1992 consensus” is also wrong, he said.
The Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), with the approval of then-president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), who was also KMT chairman, exchanged documents with Chinese authorities on Nov. 16, 1992, in which the two sides agreed that “free interpretation represented the content of the 1992 consensus,” Wu said.
“The two sides of the Taiwan Strait, based on the one China principle, agreed that either side can freely interpret what one China means in a verbal form,” Wu said.
“This means that the mainland can claim that the People’s Republic of China represents all of China, while we can also claim that the Republic of China [ROC] represents the whole of China,” he said.
Based on that agreement, then-SEF chairman Koo Chen-fu (辜振甫) and Wang Daohan (汪道涵), chairman of China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, held talks in Singapore in April 1993, Wu said.
Separately yesterday, former New Taipei City mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) of the KMT also came to the defense of the KMT’s stance regarding the “consensus,” saying that the “1992 consensus” and the “one China, two systems” framework are totally different things.
“The Republic of China has always adhered to the path of democracy and freedom, and will surely do so in the future,” Chu said, adding that to the KMT, a free interpretation that the ROC represents all of China is the party’s stance toward the “1992 consensus.”
Chu, who left office last month, has announced a bid to vie for the KMT’s nomination as its candidate in the next presidential election in early 2020.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday voiced dissatisfaction with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans- Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), whose latest meeting, concluded earlier the same day, appeared not to address the country’s application. In a statement, MOFA said the CPTPP commission had "once again failed to fairly process Taiwan’s application," attributing the inaction to the bloc’s "succumbing to political pressure," without elaborating. Taiwan submitted its CPTPP application under the name "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu" on Sept. 22, 2021 -- less than a week after China
THE GOOD WORD: More than 100 colleges on both sides of the Pacific will work together to bring students to Taiwan so they can learn Mandarin where it is spoken A total of 102 universities from Taiwan and the US are collaborating in a push to promote Taiwan as the first-choice place to learn Mandarin, with seven Mandarin learning centers stood up in the US to train and support teachers, the Foundation for International Cooperation in Higher Education of Taiwan (FICHET) said. At the annual convention of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages held over the weekend in New Orleans, Louisiana, a Taiwan Pavilion was jointly run by 17 representative teams from the FICHET, the Overseas Community Affairs Council, the Steering Committee for the Test of Proficiency-Huayu, the
A home-style restaurant opened by a Taiwanese woman in Quezon City in Metro Manila has been featured in the first-ever Michelin Guide honoring exceptional restaurants in the Philippines. The restaurant, Fong Wei Wu (豐味屋), was one of 74 eateries to receive a “Michelin Selected” honor in the guide, while one restaurant received two Michelin stars, eight received one star and 25 were awarded a “Bib Gourmand.” The guide, which was limited to restaurants in Metro Manila and Cebu, was published on Oct. 30. In an interview, Feng Wei Wu’s owner and chef, Linda, said that as a restaurateur in her 60s, receiving an
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) on Monday announced light shows and themed traffic lights to welcome fans of South Korean pop group Twice to the port city. The group is to play Kaohsiung on Saturday as part of its “This Is For” world tour. It would be the group’s first performance in Taiwan since its debut 10 years ago. The all-female group consists of five South Koreans, three Japanese and Tainan’s Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), the first Taiwan-born and raised member of a South Korean girl group. To promote the group’s arrival, the city has been holding a series of events, including a pop-up
RSS