The Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) Central Standing Committee (CSC) recently passed the party's mission statement for next year. This included a part about the party's policy on cross-strait relations. Notably, the statement is missing any mention of the so-called "1992 consensus" and the National Unification Guidelines.
KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou's (
Ma has told reporters that the KMT had not abandoned its position on unification and the "1992 consensus," but that in it's mission statement for next year, it doesn't want to emphasize its position in favor of the unification guidelines and the "1992 consensus."
And so Ma and the KMT leadership accidentally showed what is really behind the omissions in the mission statement: the KMT has far from abandoned its old positions, it is just not talking about them at this point in time because of the presidential elections next year.
When President Chen Shui-bian (
So why is it that, less than two years later, the KMT has made a complete about-face on the issue?
Now it is making a show of taking the party's position on the unification guidelines and the "1992 consensus" out of its mission statement for the presidential election.
The reason for this is that the KMT understands mainstream Taiwanese thinking; the idea that Taiwan should never give up its sovereignty is growing stronger every day.
The KMT is copying the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) position.
Once the DPP had begun collecting the 2 million signatures needed to file for a referendum on applying for UN membership under the name "Taiwan," the KMT suddenly started its own referendum proposal on "returning" to the UN under the name Republic of China (ROC) or any other practical name.
They are trying to confuse the public, to obstruct the DPP's referendum by rallying KMT mayors and county commissioners to boycott the simultaneous voting process the DPP has proposed.
If the KMT has abandoned its hopes of eventual unification by deleting all references to the "unification of the Chinese people" from its mission statement, then Ma should announce that he is against unification with China.
The so-called "1992 consensus" doesn't even exist and it's ridiculous that the KMT has even used it as a standard to follow.
When the DPP took power in 2000, the KMT suddenly cooked up the "1992 consensus," in which it claimed that Beijing and the ROC government had agreed that Taiwan and China are actually one and that each side of the Taiwan Strait should be allowed to interpret "one China" as it wishes.
After KMT Legislator Su Chi (
How can you abandon or manipulate something that doesn't exist? Surely this is indicative of what the KMT thinks of the intellectual capacity of the average Taiwanese. Take a look at the election strategy of Ma and the KMT: They appear confident that deep-blue voters will back them no matter what.
Because of this, they are in a hurry to distance themselves from parties and colors to compete for moderate and light green voters.
After the Chinese Communist Party's 17th National Congress last month, Ma again mentioned the "1992 consensus" in reaction to Chinese President Hu Jintao's (
It was pitiful to hear Ma, whose party is distancing itself from its core principles, again make a fool of Taiwan and its people by bringing up the "1992 consensus."
In a democratic and free Taiwan, the country should go back to one Taiwan. And because it is democratic, everyone here has the right to express their view on our nation's status.
The DPP wants to rectify the country's name, write a new constitution and make "Taiwan" the name of the country. The KMT wants to preserve the national title.
Both parties should respect each other and let the public make the decision by casting their votes.
Lin Chia-cheng is a minister in the Examination Yuan.
Translated by Anna Stiggelbout
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