Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday met with former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, with Xi’s opening statement once more emphasizing that people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are Chinese and that foreign intervention cannot change their inevitable unification.
Xi said that 5,000 years of history of zhonghua minzu (中華民族, ethnic Chinese group) have seen their ancestors move to Taiwan to establish new lives, while also documenting them fighting side-by-side against foreign forces and finally freeing Taiwan.
“Both sides are Chinese,” and there are no issues that cannot be worked through, he said, adding that no force can separate them.
Photo: screenshot from livestream
The youth is the hope of a country and of its people, and young people on both sides of the Strait should find within them the will to be proud of their ancestry and work together to jointly create a prosperous future for zhonghua minzu, he said.
Ma said the young members of his delegation deeply appreciate the enthusiasm of their Chinese hosts, and their experiences over the past few days as their travels around China have brought them closer to their cultural roots.
They have seen China’s development firsthand and felt the bonds that tie the two sides together, he added.
The Republic of China (ROC) and zhonghua minzu had weathered a century of humiliation in the past, but joint efforts across the Taiwan Strait over the past three decades have slowly brought zhonghua minzu back to prominence, he said.
While people on both sides of the Strait live under different governing philosophies, they are both Chinese people and should help one another to revitalize zhonghua minzu, Ma said, adding that this was the ideal he and “Mr Xi” agreed on at their meeting in 2015.
Ma said he hoped both sides would cherish the values and ways of life of their respective societies.
Quoting Chinese writer Lu Xun (魯迅), he said: “Though we suffered tribulations and hardships, we remain brothers; let us greet one another with smiles, and let bygones be bygones (渡盡劫波兄弟在、相逢一笑泯恩仇)” to emphasize that war would be unbearable to zhonghua minzu as a whole.
Ma’s statement yesterday potentially puts a new spin on the so-called “1992 consensus,” as he stated that while both sides in 1992 had verbally expressed their understanding of “one China,” future generations should prioritize public welfare, adhere to the “1992 consensus” and jointly reject Taiwanese independence.
The so-called “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi ( 蘇起 ) in 2006 admitted to making up in 2000, refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that both sides of the Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Ma is in China as part of what he has called a “journey of peace” to calm tensions with Beijing, which has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control.
Additional reporting by AFP
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
‘BOOMING’: ’ The number of partners we have here is incredible. You can see from their stock prices. They’re doing so well, they’re so happy,’ Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp’s spending in Taiwan has ballooned to about US$150 billion a year, 10 times the US$10 billion to US$15 billion the company spent five years ago, Nvidia chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said yesterday, suggesting Taiwan’s strategic importance in the global artificial intelligence (AI) supply chain. “Taiwan is the epicenter of the AI revolution. This is where the chips come, packaging comes. This is where the systems are made. This is where AI supercomputers were created,” Huang said at a meeting for the company’s employees in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei, the planned site of Nvidia’s Taipei headquarters. “Taiwan
GREATER REACH? Auto parts and wood products would face tariffs of up to 15%, matching those targeting the EU, Japan and South Korea, Vice Premier said The US has announced that preferential tariff treatment for Taiwan’s non-semiconductor Section 232 goods would take effect retroactively from May 1, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The US government yesterday posted a notice on the Federal Register’s public inspection Web site previewing tariff concessions for Taiwan under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Taiwan-US investment after two months of negotiations. The MOU signed on Jan. 15 stipulated three major preferential tariff arrangements: a 15 percent “reciprocal” tariff rate for Taiwan without stacking most-favored nation (MFN) rates; preferential Section 232 treatment for semiconductors and related products; and preferential Section 232 treatment for non-semiconductor
RSS