President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) plans to reiterate the importance of the so-called “1992 consensus” when the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) meets on Wednesday, which is the 22nd anniversary of high-level negotiations between Taiwan and China held in Singapore, MAC officials said yesterday.
In 1993, Taiwan’s then-Straits Exchange Foundation chairman Koo Chen-fu (辜振甫), and China’s then-Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits president Wang Daohan (汪道涵) held the highest-level talks ever between Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China at the time.
The “1992 consensus” refers to a supposed understanding reached during a meeting in Hong Kong in 1992 between Taiwanese and Chinese representatives, under which both sides claim to have acknowledged that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “one China” means.
In 2006, former MAC chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted he made up the term “1992 consensus” in 2000 before the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) handed over power to the Democratic Progressive Party.
Ma has repeatedly said that the “1992 consensus” is the foundation for peaceful negotiations between Taiwan and China, to which he attributes the signing of more than a dozen cross-strait agreements on a wide range of issues, including judicial assistance and tourism.
During his visit to the MAC — Taiwan’s top China policymaking body, of which Ma was once the deputy chief — the president plans to reiterate the importance of the “1992 consensus” as a “foundation for peaceful cross-strait development,” an MAC official said yesterday.
Ma is also set to look back on the achievements of his China policy over the past seven years, perhaps in a bid to bolster the confidence of KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), who is heading to Beijing for talks between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on May 4.
With regards to Chu’s China policy, KMT spokesman Yang Wei-chung (楊偉中) said Chu would give a press conference before departing for China on Saturday in which he is expected to reaffirm the need to retain the “1992 consensus” as the basis for cross-strait negotiations.
He is also expected to talk about the need to “deepen” and “update” some ideas inherent to cross-strait understanding, Yang said.
As for the agenda for Chu’s scheduled meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), Yang said they would exchange views on the prospects for cross-strait ties and other subjects related to the well-being of people on both sides of the strait.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
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Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial
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