President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) believes that if Chinese authorities acknowledge the existence of the Republic of China’s (ROC) Constitution, it would be conducive to maintaining peaceful cross-strait relations, Presidential Office spokesperson Charles Chen (陳以信) said yesterday in response to Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) public reference to the Constitution on Thursday.
Chen said Ma considers Wang’s remarks to be a demonstration of Beijing’s recognition of the existence of the Constitution.
“The Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of Communist Rebellion (動員戡亂時期臨時條款) were abolished in 1991 and since then authorities on the mainland have no longer been viewed [by the ROC] as a rebel group. The National Assembly then amended the Constitution with changes collectively known as the Additional Articles (增修條文), acknowledging the governments on both sides of the Taiwan Strait as two equal political entities and legally dividing the ROC into the free region and the mainland region, which made possible the subsequent Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) that has facilitated the development of cross-strait relations,” Chen said.
Chen said the “1992 consensus” and “one China, different interpretations” are based on the cross-strait relationship established according to the Constitution.
Ma made it clear to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) during their meeting in Singapore on Nov. 7 last year that the ROC’s position of “one China, different interpretations” based on the “1992 consensus” absolutely does not involve “two Chinas,” “one China, one Taiwan” or Taiwanese independence, as they are not allowed by the Constitution, Chen added.
“President Ma has emphasized this many times over the past few years, and his straightforward mention of the Constitution during his meeting with Xi was crucial, in the sense that it was unprecedented,” Chen said.
Chen attributed the unprecedented peace and prosperity in cross-strait relations and the “status quo” to the “1992 consensus” and “one China, different interpretations,” and called on “all ROC presidents” to cherish the achievements.
The so-called “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted making up in 2000, refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese government that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
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