Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman John Chiang (蔣孝嚴) said yesterday in Beijing that “there is no problem with both sides of the Taiwan Strait belonging under one China.”
Visiting Beijing for the opening of the second term of the Taiwanese Compatriots Organization Forum, Chiang said that “in accordance with the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution” and “regulations on both sides of the Strait concerning such an issue,” the cross-strait relationship is the relationship between the “Taiwan area” and the “Mainland area.”
During a meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) on March 22, KMT honorary chairman Wu Po-hsiung (吳伯雄) suggested tackling cross-strait issues using the “one country, two areas (一國兩區)” formula.
Wu’s comments at the time caused an uproar in Taiwan.
According to Chiang yesterday, Wu’s March meeting with Hu had yielded a very good conclusion that both sides of the Strait would continue to push for a peaceful development of cross-strait issues.
“The meeting enabled me to say ‘there is no problem with both sides of the Taiwan Strait belonging under one China’ in accordance with either the ROC Constitution or other cross-strait-related regulations,” Chiang said.
The “one China constitution (一中憲法)” is the ROC Constitution, under which there is the Taiwan area and the Mainland area, Chiang said, adding that under the Constitution and the Act Governing the Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the People of the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例) both areas belonged to one China.
“This is the Constitutional framework with which we explain the ‘1992 consensus,’ and all interaction across the Strait is also implemented under this framework,” Chiang said.
On whether the KMT would be using the aforementioned concept as the basis for future cross-strait relations, Chiang said “we haven’t got to that stage yet.”
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