Amid renewed debates over the so-called “1992 consensus,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Katharine Chang (張小月) yesterday reiterated that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) administration respects the historical fact of the 1992 cross-strait talks.
Chang made the remarks on the sidelines of a meeting of the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee, which was reviewing proposed amendments to Article 17 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例).
“President Tsai has stated on multiple occasions our opinions on the ‘1992’ [consensus], which is that we respect the historical fact of the 1992 [talks], with the key being seeking common ground, while reserving differences,” Chang said.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Chang said that over the past two decades, both sides of the Taiwan Strait have made several achievements though communication and interaction.
Both sides should cherish and value these achievements, she said, adding that the government hopes to continue to improve cross-strait ties based on that political foundation.
The “1992 consensus” — a term former council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted to making up in 2000 — refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party that both sides acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Debates about the existence of the “1992 consensus” have been renewed after American Institute in Taiwan Chairman Raymond Burghardt said in an interview with Voice of America in Washington on Wednesday last week that the term “1992 consensus” did not exist until Su used it in 2000.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson An Fengshan (安峰山) on Saturday said that cross-strait communications were suspended on May 20 due to Taiwan’s failure to recognize the “1992 consensus,” which An said is an embodiment of the “one China” principle serving as the political foundation for cross-strait relations.
Asked by reporters about Burghardt’s remarks, Chang said the government’s stance is that it respects the historical fact of the 1992 talks and the achievements accumulated over the past two decades based on the shared understanding of seeking common ground, while reserving differences.
“The council will continue communications with Beijing and keep up efforts to accumulate goodwill across the Taiwan Strait,” she said.
She added that the amount of Chinese investment in Taiwan between January and last month showed an upward trend.
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
FLU SEASON: Twenty-six severe cases were reported from Tuesday last week to Monday, including a seven-year-old girl diagnosed with influenza-associated encephalopathy Nearly 140,000 people sought medical assistance for diarrhea last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday. From April 7 to Saturday last week, 139,848 people sought medical help for diarrhea-related illness, a 15.7 percent increase from last week’s 120,868 reports, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The number of people who reported diarrhea-related illness last week was the fourth highest in the same time period over the past decade, Lee said. Over the past four weeks, 203 mass illness cases had been reported, nearly four times higher than the 54 cases documented in the same period
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching
HOSPITALITY HIT: Hotels in Hualien have an occupancy rate of 10 percent, down from 30 percent before the earthquake, a Tourism Administration official said The Executive Yuan yesterday unveiled a stimulus package of vouchers and subsidies to revive tourism in Hualien County following a quake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale. The tremor on April 3, which killed at least 17 people and left two others missing, caused the county an estimated NT$3 billion (US$92.7 million) in damages. The Ministry of Economic Affairs is to issue vouchers worth NT$200 at the price of NT$100 for purchases at the Dongdamen Night Market (東大門夜市) in Hualien City to boost spending, a ministry official told a news conference after a Cabinet meeting in Taipei. The ministry plans to issue 18,400