The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday said that it supported the introduction of a “sensible” supervision mechanism for the signing of cross-strait agreements, rather than the imposition of out-of-proportion restrictions that could impede exchanges across the Taiwan Strait.
“The KMT believes [the signing of] cross-strait political agreements is an issue that should be decided by [Taiwan’s] 23 million people, so we do not oppose raising the supervisory thresholds or subjecting the matter to a direct democracy mechanism,” the KMT said in a press release.
What the KMT does not support is blowing the definition of “political agreements” out of proportion, it said, citing Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chen Ming-tong’s (陳明通) remark on Thursday that the inclusion of the “one China” principle or the so-called “1992 consensus” was a defining element of a political agreement.
Photo: CNA
Doing so would negatively affect the signing of cross-strait treaties on economic or administrative affairs and undermine the welfare of Taiwanese, the KMT said.
It urged the Democratic Progressive Party government to prioritize the welfare of the public and refrain from obstructing Taiwan’s development for electoral reasons.
Chen offered the definition after the Executive Yuan on Thursday unveiled a draft amendment to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) to stipulate high thresholds for the inking of cross-strait political agreements.
Under the draft bill, a cross-strait political agreement should receive the approval of three-quarters of lawmakers during a plenary session with at least three-quarters of the legislature in attendance before and after the negotiations.
The agreement would also need to be put to a referendum before it could be implemented.
The legislative effort is seen as an attempt to prevent the KMT from signing a cross-strait peace accord with Beijing if it ever returns to power, an idea that has been mooted by KMT Chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義).
The “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted making up in 2000, refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese government that both sides of the Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Beijing has set public endorsement of the “1992 consensus” by Taiwanese politicians as a precondition for cross-strait dialogues.
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