The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday accused Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) of looking for a scapegoat for the predicament in cross-strait relations.
In an interview with the Central News Agency on Tuesday, Chiu was quoted as saying that Beijing "can use the ‘1992 consensus’ to declare to the international community that Taiwan is an internal affair.”
The so-called “1992 consensus,” a term former MAC minister 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.
However, as the KMT is unable to clarify to the international community what the term means, Taiwan has been excluded internationally and must rely on China to participate in international organizations, Chiu said in the interview.
The KMT said in a statement yesterday that the “one China” it proposes in the “one China, with different interpretations” concept is the Republic of China, and that it has never offered “a second kind of explanation.”
Despite experiencing successive setbacks in trying to expand the nation’s international space, President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration has always ignored the key impact that cross-strait relations have on the nation’s international space, while being unable to come up with a solution, the KMT said.
The KMT said it suspects that Chiu is aware of the obstacles in cross-strait relations, but amid pressure from US President Joe Biden’s administration for the two sides of the Taiwan Strait to engage in constructive dialogue, he has only issued calls “with no substance” to China and appears to be looking for a scapegoat in Taiwan.
Tsai and her national security team should not simply shift the blame onto the KMT, it said.
Discrediting the KMT’s proposal of “seeking a common ground while maintaining differences and engaging in pragmatic discussions” does not help cross-strait relations, it added.
In related news, the KMT Central Standing Committee approved a proposal raised by the party’s Mainland Affairs Department to establish a committee on rules and issues related to cross-strait exchanges.
KMT Secretary-General Lee Chien-lung (李乾龍) is to serve as convener of the new committee, KMT Culture and Communications Committee deputy director-general Cheng Chao-hsin (鄭照新) told reporters after a meeting.
As the post-pandemic era approaches, the committee would discuss the code of conduct, levels of exchanges and the extent of cross-strait exchanges carried out by party officials, Cheng said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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