Wed, Jul 19, 2023 page3

• MAC slams Gou’s defense of ‘one China’ framework

  • By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
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  The aim of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” framework is to annihilate the Republic of China (ROC) and annex Taiwan, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday.

  The council issued the statement after Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘), who is widely viewed to be a presidential aspirant, penned an op-ed published on Monday in the Washington Post in which he criticized President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Vice President William Lai (賴清德) for abandoning the “one China” framework.

  In the op-ed, titled “Taiwan abandoning One China framework aggravates the risk of war,” Gou argued that under such a framework, Taiwan can “fully protect its democracy, freedom and way of life,” and “undertake ... a long and arduous process of discussion and negotiation” with China.

  While recognizing the importance of US support for Taiwan, Gou said that “there comes a time when a people have to assume principal responsibility for itself, not accept a tutelage that becomes an unhealthy dependency.”

  The council said that there has never been a “one China” framework that “allows separate interpretations of what that means.”

  “There is only the ‘one China’ principle, that was stipulated unilaterally by the CCP and is intended to annihilate the Republic of China and annex Taiwan,” the council said.

  “Mr Gou is not completely unaware of the CCP’s political strategem toward Taiwan, which seeks to deliberately ‘beautify’ such attempts,” it said.

  In the CCP’s white paper on its “one China” principle and Taiwan published in 2000, the Republic of China government was referred to as only a local authority of China, the council said.

  “The CCP has repeatedly stated that the so-called ‘1992 consensus’ fully embodies its ‘one China’ principle and used the ‘consensus’ as a condition for cross-strait dialogue. It has been trying to force Taiwan to accept its status as a local government in cross-strait negotiations,” the council said.

  “This contradicts the fact that Taiwan is a sovereign nation. Neither the people nor leaders of Taiwan would find it acceptable,” it said.

  That Taiwan and China have never been part of each other is an objective fact and is the cross-strait “status quo,” the council said, adding that Taiwanese have elected their own leader seven times since 1996.

  “The CCP should recognize the existence of the Republic of China and not impose any conditions for political dialogue, which has cost both sides an opportunity to interact under goodwill,” it said.

  The Taiwanese government has been implementing a cross-strait policy that is consistent with the ROC Constitution and Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例), the council said.

  The international community has shown its support and affirmed Taiwan’s position in refraining from engaging in provocative actions, it said.

  By contrast, countries around the world have seen how China threatens and pressures Taiwan, and asked it not to engage in military actions in the Taiwan Strait, the council said.

  The “1992 consensus,” a term that former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted making up in 2000, refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the CCP that both sides of the Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
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