Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Andrew Hsia (夏立言) on Wednesday met with China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) Director Song Tao (宋濤), as Beijing held military drills around Taiwan.
Hsia, leading a KMT delegation, left for China on Saturday last week, vowing to boost cross-strait exchanges.
At a meeting with a Henan official on Sunday, Hsia said the KMT would uphold the so-called “1992 consensus,” and cross-strait cooperation in areas such as trade, technology and culture.
Photo from Taiwan.cn
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 KMT and the Chinese Communist Party that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Undeterred by Beijing’s show of force, Hsia met Tao in Xuzhou on Wednesday, the second day of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) deployment of army, navy, air and rocket forces to “close in” on Taiwan from “multiple directions.”
The exercises serve as a “stern warning” to “Taiwan independence” separatist forces, the TAO said on Tuesday.
The drills ended on Wednesday night.
At the meeting, Xinhua news agency quoted Hsia as saying: “Both sides of the Strait belong to one China. All differences can be resolved because Taiwanese and mainlanders are both Chinese.”
The KMT opposes Taiwan independence and would promote peaceful cross-strait relations, he said.
“The two sides of the Strait are one family, not enemies,” Song said in response to President William Lai (賴清德) last month defining China as a “foreign hostile force.”
National Cheng Kung University political science professor Hung Chin-fu (洪敬富) questioned whether Hsia’s meeting implied he had colluded with the enemy, as China has been defined as a “foreign hostile force.”
Not only did the KMT not defend Taiwan’s sovereignty when faced with Chinese military drills against Taiwan, it even visited China to meet with Song, Hung said.
The KMT should make it clear that Taiwan is not subordinate to China and assert Taiwan’s sovereignty when it meets with Chinese officials, Hung said.
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