Several members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Reform Committee’s youth participation task force yesterday voiced their support for recommendations made by the committee’s cross-strait narrative task force and said they were not abandoning the “1992 consensus.”
The so-called “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 Communist Party that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
The KMT’s reform committee, of which KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) is the general convener, is divided into four task forces focused on cross-strait narrative, organizational reform, youth participation and financial stability.
Photo: CNA
On Friday last week, the groups held their first joint meeting, during which the cross-strait narrative task force proposed “four pillars”: insisting on the sovereignty of the Republic of China (ROC); safeguarding freedom, democracy and human rights; prioritizing the safeguarding of Taiwan’s security; and creating a win-win situation and “shared prosperity.”
Speaking outside the KMT headquarters in Taipei yesterday, Taichung City Councilor Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋), a member of the youth participation task force, said that while some people who rely on history for a “sense of presence” might feel that their contributions are being erased, the committee was not erasing the “1992 consensus,” but rather hoped to add to the KMT’s narrative.
Lin Hsing-er (林杏兒), head of the KMT Department of National Youth Affairs and a member of the youth participation task force, said that young people are unfamiliar with the “1992 consensus.”
She compared the “consensus” to a point-and-shoot camera, saying it was no longer “in fashion.”
The KMT has never removed the “consensus” from its discourse, she said, but it should be repackaged into something that young people can understand.
Another member of the youth participation task force, Taipei City Councilor Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯), said that while some people question whether the KMT’s cross-strait narrative is moving closer to that of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the reverse was true.
She said that the KMT should place its focus not on whether or not it wants the “1992 consensus,” but rather on the challenges the “consensus” faces and supervision of the ruling DPP.
Members of the youth participation task force also expressed their support for fellow member Kaohsiung City Councilor Jane Lee (李眉蓁), who on Tuesday was named the party’s candidate in the Kaohsiung mayoral by-election to be held on Aug. 15.
In related developments, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday on Facebook called on President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to acknowledge the “1992 consensus” to prevent the two sides of the Taiwan Strait from going to war.
Ma also called on Chinese authorities to stop menacing Taiwan with force.
Additional reporting by CNA
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said that it would redesign the written portion of the driver’s license exam to make it more rigorous. “We hope that the exam can assess drivers’ understanding of traffic rules, particularly those who take the driver’s license test for the first time. In the past, drivers only needed to cram a book of test questions to pass the written exam,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told a news conference at the Taoyuan Motor Vehicle Office. “In the future, they would not be able to pass the test unless they study traffic regulations
GAINING STEAM: The scheme initially failed to gather much attention, with only 188 cards issued in its first year, but gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic Applications for the Employment Gold Card have increased in the past few years, with the card having been issued to a total of 13,191 people from 101 countries since its introduction in 2018, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Those who have received the card have included celebrities, such as former NBA star Dwight Howard and Australian-South Korean cheerleader Dahye Lee, the NDC said. The four-in-one Employment Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit. It was first introduced in February 2018 through the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法),
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying