Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) failed to defend the nation’s sovereignty by not mentioning the Republic of China (ROC) in her meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Beijing on Tuesday, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus said yesterday, adding that the meeting stressed the “one China” framework of the so-called “1992 consensus.”
The existence of the ROC was again omitted from the annual get-togther between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), as Xi reiterated the “one China” principle and Hung left Xi’s statements unchallenged, DPP caucus chief executive Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡) said.
The KMT has formulated the “1992 consensus” as being “one China, with different interpretations,” but there is never room for the interpretation under China’s assertion of the “one China” principle, Wu said, criticizing Hung for failing to mention the ROC during the meeting.
Photo; Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
The “1992 consensus” refers to a supposed tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese government that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) said in 2006 that he had made up the term in 2000.
Xi did not make specific responses to Hung’s requests at the meeting. At a welcome dinner in Nanjing on Monday, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) said it was difficult for Beijing to make concessions to the eight Taiwanese cities and counties whose government leaders made a visit to China in September to seek tourism and business opportunities under the “1992 consensus.”
“It shows that the ‘1992 consensus’ and cross-strait interactions preconditioned by the ‘consensus’ are not a cure-all,” Wu said. “Groveling [to China] will not ensure any gain.”
Hung mentioned the ROC during a visit to the mausoleum of ROC founder Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙) in Nanjing on Monday, but the ROC, as the nation’s official title that represents a democracy of 23 million people, was missing throughout the rest of Hung’s trip to China, DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) said.
“To normalize interaction, the ROC’s existence and Taiwan’s values of democracy, freedom and human rights have to be recognized,” Yeh said.
China also barred reporters from three Taiwanese media organizations from attending the Hung-Xi meeting, but Hung regrettably did not make any comment about freedom of the press, Yeh added.
Meanwhile, Hung’s proposal of a peace accord and the mentioning of the KMT’s “peace-centered policy platform” were an apparent attempt to seek an alliance with the CPP against the DPP, as the policy platform was formed in opposition to the DPP’s independence platform, DPP Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) said.
“[Hung] does not have to propose a peace platform,” Tuan said. “[She] could have just asked Xi to invade Taiwan.”
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