The relationship between Taiwan and China is one of “two sides of the Taiwan Strait,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Deputy Minister Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said yesterday, adding that the media took comments he made earlier out of context by reporting that he called the two sides of the Taiwan Strait “two countries.”
Liang made the response to lawmakers following criticism over the comment he made during a radio interview on Monday last week in which he said the “two sides of the Taiwan Strait” and “the Republic of China (ROC) and People’s Republic of China (PRC)” mean the same thing.
In that comment, he was clarifying an earlier statement made by President William Lai (賴清德) that the ROC and PRC are not subordinate to each other.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
During a meeting of the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee at the Legislative Yuan yesterday, Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator Lin Yi-chuan (林憶君) asked Liang to clarify his comment that “two sides of the Strait” and “two countries” are the same, adding that it would be “ridiculous” to not treat the PRC like a country.
Liang said the radio interview was a discussion, and the media took his response out of context to make it “not quite accurate.”
When discussing the practical relationship between the two sides, Liang said he brought up the example of needing an ROC ID to qualify for National Health Insurance, so citizens of the PRC cannot apply.
The MAC was founded in accordance with the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), Liang said.
Therefore, “strictly speaking, it is necessary to talk about the relationship between the Taiwan area and the mainland area, but customary to say the ‘two sides of the Strait,’” he said.
TPP Legislator Chang Chi-kai (張啟楷) asked if this meant he would rescind his “two countries” comment in favor of “two sides of the Strait.”
Liang replied that it was “of course” two sides of the Strait, adding that the “two countries” comment was made by the host of the radio program, not him.
In the interview, the host said that according to the Constitution, it is “two sides of the Strait,” but practically, it is “two countries.”
Liang in response said that is “in essence how it is.”
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