A Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member yesterday said the KMT-CCP Forum is likely to be postponed to next month and become “interactions between think tanks,” limited to non-political discussions.
Local media had reported that the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) were to resume the Cross-Strait Economic, Trade and Culture Forum, known as the KMT-CCP Forum, in Beijing from next week, ending a nine-year suspension.
The KMT never officially confirmed such a meeting.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
The forum would likely be postponed to early February and focus on artificial intelligence, disaster prevention and sustainable industry development, the member said, on condition of anonymity.
It remains unclear whether KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) would attend the meeting.
As the first KMT-CCP forum under Cheng’s leadership, it would set the tone on “interactions between think tanks,” the member said, so the forum might no longer retain its original name.
Participants would be mostly from industries and academia, with further details to be revealed next week, the member said.
Launched in 2006 after a breakthrough 2005 meeting between then-KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and then-Chinese president Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), the KMT-CCP Forum has been held almost every year until 2016, when it was suspended following the defeat of the KMT in the presidential and legislative elections.
Cheng said the KMT should shoulder historical responsibility to ease tensions across the Taiwan Strait, and that she would promote cross-strait dialogue.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Peng Qing’en (彭慶恩) said China would always adhere to the the so-called “1992 consensus” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted making up in 2000. It refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese government that both sides of the Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Peng stayed mum on the forum itself, saying he would provide updates if there are “any new developments.”
The KMT’s plan to revive the political talk has drawn criticism from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which said it was an attempt to “test the waters” for a possible meeting between Cheng and Chinese leader Xi Jinping (習近平) and gauge the public’s reaction.
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