Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) on Sunday once again denied the existence of the so-called “1992 consensus” allegedly reached by cross-strait representatives almost two decades ago.
“There is no such consensus, but some people continue to maintain that it exists. Politicians should not tell [lies] to the public,” Lee, who was president between 1988 and 2000, told an event held to celebrate his upcoming birthday.
Instead, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), a party he once headed, has used the so-called consensus as a mask for its unification agenda, Lee said.
The so-called “1992 consensus” referred to by the KMT basically means “one China” and should be of serious concern to Taiwan, he said.
“Taiwan is a democracy and a sovereign and independent country; we should not be talking on the issue of ‘one China’ with communist China,” he said.
His comments are the latest denial of the so-called consensus, defined by the KMT as a tacit agreement that there is only “one China” — the meaning of which is open to interpretation. The accord was reached by cross-strait -representatives after a meeting in 1992, according to the KMT.
However, numerous high--profile politicians have denied that this agreement ever took place, despite the consensus now becoming official government policy. The late Koo Chen-fu (辜振甫), the former Straits Exchange Foundation chairman who led talks with China during that period, has denied that a consensus was ever reached.
Former KMT legislator Su Chi (蘇起), who later became head of the National Security Council, admitted in February 2006 that he made up the term in 2000 — when he was head of the Mainland Affairs Council — to break the cross-strait deadlock and alleviate tension.
On Thursday, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) challenged Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to clearly state whether her party acknowledged the so-called consensus between Taiwan and China. He said such recognition was the “bedrock” for cross-strait peace.
Tsai yesterday said the president should have first asked himself whether the so-called “1992 consensus” actually existed. The DPP has never acknowledged the existence of the consensus or of “one China,” she said.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
‘ARMED GROUP’: Two defendants used Chinese funds to form the ‘Republic of China Taiwan Military Government,’ posing a threat to national security, prosecutors said A retired lieutenant general has been charged after using funds from China to recruit military personnel for an “armed” group that would assist invading Chinese forces, prosecutors said yesterday. The retired officer, Kao An-kuo (高安國), was among six people indicted for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法), the High Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement. The group visited China multiple times, separately and together, from 2018 to last year, where they met Chinese military intelligence personnel for instructions and funding “to initiate and develop organizations for China,” prosecutors said. Their actions posed a “serious threat” to “national security and social stability,” the statement
RSS