China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) issued a statement yesterday to endorse its collaboration with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for cross-strait relations based on the so-called “1992 consensus,” and opposing Taiwan independence.
The release came following a meeting between KMT Deputy Chairman Andrew Hsia (夏立言) and TAO Director Song Tao (宋濤) on Wednesday in Yuncheng City in Shanxi Province, China, as Hsia leads a KMT delegation for a week-long visit to attend business forums and political talks in the country.
Song quoted in the statement saying: “We shall work together with the KMT and other political parties on Taiwan Island, along with organizations having the common political stance, to carry out works for cross-strait peace and returning to the correct path. Together we can achieve long-lasting prosperity and well-being for the revitalization of the Chinese race.”
Photo: Wang Shan-yan, Taipei Times
Song said the common stance of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the KMT is based on opposing Taiwan independence, and upholding the “1992 consensus,” which refers to a tacit understanding between the CCP and the KMT that both sides of the Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) does not acknowledge the “consensus,” which former KMT official Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 said that he made up in 2000.
The TAO statement quoted Hsia as saying: “Currently the cross-strait situation is quite severe, and the KMT is willing to enhance collaboration with the CPP, based on the ‘1992 consensus’ and opposing Taiwan independence. We shall strive for peace and prosperity for our compatriots across the Taiwan Strait.”
In the release, Song also was quoted as saying: “Taiwan’s separatist forces are forging links with outside forces, to provoke conflict for their separatist goals, which have harmed the interests of Taiwan compatriots, undermined stability across the Strait. Taiwan has to choose between war and peace, and to have prosperity or economic decaying.”
Hsia and the KMT delegation started their China trip on Monday to meet with Chinese officials, and also to attend the opening of a business forum in Taiyuan City in Shanxi Province on economic opportunities for Taiwanese companies and Taiwanese youth to do business in Shanxi.
DPP Legislator Wang Mei-hui (王美惠) slammed Hsia for “complying with” all demands by Chinese officials.
“If Hsia believes having political consensus with the CCP is so great, then he should move to China,” Hsia said. “He should not continue to collect his pension issued by Taiwan government.”
Wang said: “We [the DPP] request the KMT to stop bashing and antagonizing Taiwan. The so-called ‘1992 consensus’ was made up, in the collusion by the KMT and the CCP, and Taiwanese have never agreed to it, since it compromises our nation’s sovereignty and self-governance.”
Hsia has visited China three times this year. His first trip was in February, and he visited several cities and met with top CCP officials in Beijing. Then he represented the KMT at China’s Straits Forum in Xiamen in June.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is pushing for residents of Kinmen and Lienchiang counties to acquire Chinese ID cards in a bid to “blur national identities,” a source said. The efforts are part of China’s promotion of a “Kinmen-Xiamen twin-city living sphere, including a cross-strait integration pilot zone in China’s Fujian Province,” the source said. “The CCP is already treating residents of these outlying islands as Chinese citizens. It has also intensified its ‘united front’ efforts and infiltration of those islands,” the source said. “There is increasing evidence of espionage in Kinmen, particularly of Taiwanese military personnel being recruited by the
Left-Handed Girl (左撇子女孩), a film by Taiwanese director Tsou Shih-ching (鄒時擎) and cowritten by Oscar-winning director Sean Baker, won the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution at the Cannes Critics’ Week on Wednesday. The award, which includes a 20,000 euro (US$22,656) prize, is intended to support the French release of a first or second feature film by a new director. According to Critics’ Week, the prize would go to the film’s French distributor, Le Pacte. "A melodrama full of twists and turns, Left-Handed Girl retraces the daily life of a single mother and her two daughters in Taipei, combining the irresistible charm of
ENTERTAINERS IN CHINA: Taiwanese generally back the government being firm on infiltration and ‘united front’ work,’ the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association said Most people support the government probing Taiwanese entertainers for allegedly “amplifying” the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda, a survey conducted by the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association showed on Friday. Public support stood at 56.4 percent for action by the Mainland Affairs Council and the Ministry of Culture to enhance scrutiny on Taiwanese performers and artists who have developed careers in China while allegedly adhering to the narrative of Beijing’s propaganda that denigrates or harms Taiwanese sovereignty, the poll showed. Thirty-three percent did not support the action, it showed. The poll showed that 51.5 percent of respondents supported the government’s investigation into Taiwanese who have
A Philippine official has denied allegations of mistreatment of crew members during Philippine authorities’ boarding of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday. Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman Nazario Briguera on Friday said that BFAR law enforcement officers “observed the proper boarding protocols” when they boarded the Taiwanese vessel Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) and towed it to Basco Port in the Philippines. Briguera’s comments came a day after the Taiwanese captain of the Sheng Yu Feng, Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), held a news conference in Pingtung County and accused the Philippine authorities of mistreatment during the boarding of