President-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) should come out in support of the so-called “1992 consensus” during her inaugural address, panelists at discussions organized by the Taiwan Competitiveness Forum said yesterday in Taipei.
“The current state of affairs is that voters should be willing to make allowances for what the DPP does, so we hope that Tsai will use this to break through a lot of barriers, including the ‘1992 consensus,’” forum chairman Hsieh Ming-hui (謝明輝) said. “While for the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT], recognition of the consensus was probably viewed as ‘selling out the nation,’ for Tsai to recognize it would be viewed as being for the good of the country.”
The “1992 consensus” refers to a supposed understanding reached during cross-strait talks in 1992 that Taiwan and China acknowledge that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what that means. Former KMT lawmaker Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 said that he had made up the term in 2000, when he was head of the Mainland Affairs Council, before the KMT handed power to the DPP.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Hsieh’s call was echoed by numerous members of the panel of “pan-blue” academics and commentators.
“If Tsai does not acknowledge the ‘1992 consensus,’ then she has to be prepared to deal with an earthquake,” Taiwan Institute of Economic Research board member and former KMT lawmaker Chiu Yi (邱毅) said. “After the excitement of the election is over, you have to face the problems of reality.”
He predicted a range of Chinese sanctions could be imposed after Tsai takes office, including reductions in the number of Chinese tourists and imports of Taiwanese agricultural products, a foreign relations “avalanche” that would see Taiwan’s diplomatic allies picked off by China.
During President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) terms in office, Beijing has refrained from trying to lure Taiwan’s allies from switching recognition.
Former People First Party legislator Pang Chien-kuo (龐建國), a professor at the Chinese Culture University’s Graduate Institute of National Development and Mainland China, said that Tsai’s economic proposals have failed to take Chinese influence into account.
Even if Tsai is not forced to agree to recognize the “1992 consensus,” acknowledging that there is “one China” is likely to be the premise for any negotiations with Beijing, Pang said.
However, DPP Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) said that Tsai has moved the DPP’s rhetoric toward the center of the political spectrum by promising to “maintain the ‘status quo,’” even though the goal of Taiwan independence remains enshrined in the DPP’s charter.
“In the past, the Ma administration mainly talked about ‘one China,’ with only Taiwan maintaining that there were ‘different interpretations’ — is this logic really acceptable to Taiwanese?” Huang asked.
“In reality, the will of the people was shown with the election results — demonstrating that the KMT’s logic and position have been rejected. Given this, we hope that there will be a way to express the public’s will as both sides of the Taiwan Strait adjust and get to know each other,” he said.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck Chiayi County at 4:37pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 36.3km southeast of Chiayi County Hall at a depth of 10.4km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Chiayi County, Tainan and Kaohsiung on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Pingtung, Taitung, Hualien, Changhua, Nantou and Penghu counties, the data
RSS