New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) and China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Liu Jieyi (劉結一) yesterday reiterated the so-called “1992 consensus” as a basis for cross-strait relations as they met in Shanghai.
Chu is the first Taiwanese politician to meet Liu since the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Central Committee announced the former UN ambassador’s appointment earlier this month.
Insistence on the “1992 consensus” has been the consistent position of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), Chu said.
Photo courtesy of New Taipei City Government
Even though the KMT is now the opposition party, this stance would not change, and it hopes that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait can engage in peaceful exchanges and achieve win-win cooperation, Chu said.
Although the political circumstances have changed, what people hope for most is peace, he said.
Local-level exchanges must also continue, as the two sides could learn about city governance from each other, he said.
Beijing insists on the “1992 consensus,” which reflects the “one China” principle and opposes Taiwanese independence schemes in any form, Liu said.
“The mainland’s policies toward Taiwan are to continue to uphold the ‘two sides of the Strait, one family’ ideology,” he said.
China hopes the two sides can work together for the peaceful development of relations and “jointly promote the process of the peaceful reunification of the motherland,” Chinese state media quoted Liu telling Chu.
The “1992 consensus” — a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) said in 2006 that he had made up in 2000 — refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the CCP that the two sides acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
In Taipei, the Mainland Affairs Council said the government holds a positive attitude toward city-level cross-strait exchanges, but they must be handled according to relevant guidelines.
Attention must be paid to reciprocal respect, while issues pertaining to public power fall within the authority of the central government and no agreements are to be signed, it added.
The New Taipei City Government should remember to follow the relevant guidelines when it engages in cross-strait exchanges with other cities, the council said.
China should not set a one-sided political framework to limit cross-strait exchanges, it added.
In related developments, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said several Chinese military aircraft were spotted flying over the Bashi Channel yesterday as part of a long-range flight training mission in the western Pacific.
The aircraft included Su-30s, Shaanxi Y-8 transport planes and Xian H-6 bombers, which all returned to their bases in China on the same route, the ministry said.
It said it had scrambled aircraft to shadow the Chinese planes until they returned to their bases.
The military is maintaining a close watch on Chinese military movements and the necessary measures to ensure national security, the ministry added.
Additional reporting by CNA and Reuters
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
EMBRACING TAIWAN: US lawmakers have introduced an act aiming to replace the use of ‘Chinese Taipei’ with ‘Taiwan’ across all Washington’s federal agencies A group of US House of Representatives lawmakers has introduced legislation to replace the term “Chinese Taipei” with “Taiwan” across all federal agencies. US Representative Byron Donalds announced the introduction of the “America supports Taiwan act,” which would mandate federal agencies adopt “Taiwan” in place of “Chinese Taipei,” a news release on his page on the US House of Representatives’ Web site said. US representatives Mike Collins, Barry Moore and Tom Tiffany are cosponsors of the legislation, US political newspaper The Hill reported yesterday. “The legislation is a push to normalize the position of Taiwan as an autonomous country, although the official US
CHANGE OF TONE: G7 foreign ministers dropped past reassurances that there is no change in the position of the G7 members on Taiwan, including ‘one China’ policies G7 foreign ministers on Friday took a tough stance on China, stepping up their language on Taiwan and omitting some conciliatory references from past statements, including to “one China” policies. A statement by ministers meeting in Canada mirrored last month’s Japan-US statement in condemning “coercion” toward Taiwan. Compared with a G7 foreign ministers’ statement in November last year, the statement added members’ concerns over China’s nuclear buildup, although it omitted references to their concerns about Beijing’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. Also missing were references stressing the desire for “constructive and stable relations with China” and
RSS