China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) Minister Liu Jieyi (劉結一) said that both sides of the Taiwan Strait are “one family,” but avoided sensitive terms like “one country, two systems” and “peaceful reunification” when he met with Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) in Shanghai on Friday.
Ko, who was in Shanghai for the Taipei-Shanghai twin-city forum, met with Liu in a closed-door meeting at a guesthouse on Friday evening.
During introductory remarks open to the media, Liu talked about the achievements of exchanges between Shanghai and Taipei and his vision for cross-strait relations.
Photo: CNA
Liu said that he had read Ko’s book Taipei: A Proud City With Progressive Values (光榮城市), adding that the mayor’s dedication to serving his constituents and bringing innovation to Taipei was similar to China’s resolve to serve its people.
“People from both sides of the Taiwan Strait are one family and should help each other,” he added, citing travel and trade statistics.
Liu said that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had talked about his vision for cross-strait relations in a Jan. 2 speech, saying that cross-strait relations would continue to “move in the direction put forth by Xi.”
Although Xi had laid out in the speech that China’s fundamental policy toward Taiwan is “peaceful reunification” under a “one country, two systems” model, Liu did not directly mention those terms in his remarks.
Political barriers might exist between the two sides, but it is better to have exchanges, as they create goodwill and goodwill leads to additional exchanges, Ko said.
Ko said that he proposed the “five dos”: Do know each other, do understand each other, do respect each other, do cooperate with each other and do comprehend each other, because even though exchanges might not solve problems, they can foster trust.
Ko, an independent who is expected to run in next year’s presidential election and whose trip to China is being closely watched, was quoted by a Taipei spokesperson as saying that his approach to politics is to solve problems while they are small and that two sides should maintain open communication channels.
Ko knows that the two sides lack an effective communication channel, but Taipei officials are trying hard to sustain exchanges, the spokesperson added.
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