The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Monday said that the “Taiwan province representative” chosen by Beijing to attend China’s national congress is not a Taiwanese citizen and does not represent Taiwan.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on Sunday held a meeting in Beijing to choose a participant for its 20th National Congress to be held in November, who it said would represent Taiwan at the congress, but the “representative” chosen is a CCP member and does not represent the people of Taiwan, the council said.
Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Yang (汪洋) and You Quan (尤權), who heads China’s United Front Work Department, both attended the meeting, the council said, adding that the meeting was part of China’s “united front” efforts directed at Taiwan.
Wang on Sunday said that the representative was chosen as someone who understands the significance of the national congress, the CCP and the nation, and was someone with a “high sense of political responsibility and historical mission.”
It was someone who could achieve the “trust of the CCP, fellow Taiwanese party members and the masses,” he said.
Wang said the CCP had been making great strides in cross-strait relations and “national unity” since the party’s 18th National Congress and called on Taiwanese members of the CCP to “lead by example and implement the CCP’s strategy on the Taiwan issue.”
“We should seek more strategies to improve the well-being of our compatriots in Taiwan, and do more to strengthen exchanges and cooperation,” he said. “We must do more to promote spiritual harmony, so as to enhance Taiwan compatriots’ recognition of the great motherland.”
The council said putting forward officials it claims represent Taiwan is something the CCP has done for years, but nobody with the capacity to represent Taiwanese could hold a position in the Chinese government.
Article 33 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) prohibits Taiwanese from engaging in cooperation with the Chinese government, it said.
“The one-party dictatorship of the CCP, and its party member representatives for its national congress, have nothing to do with Taiwan,” the council said.
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