Beijing is willing to cooperate with the eight cities and counties in Taiwan that “recognize the so-called 1992 consensus,” a visiting Chinese delegation said on Friday.
Beijing Entertainment Farming and Agri-Tourism Association chairman Sun Wenkai (孫文鍇) said Beijing is willing to have “deep cooperation” in tourism and agriculture with the eight cities and counties.
He expressed the hope that agricultural cooperation would begin soon.
The “1992 consensus” refers to an alleged understanding between the 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.
Cross-strait relations have cooled since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) assumed office, because she and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) have refused to endorse the “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted making up in 2000.
The Chinese group, which canceled its meeting with Kaohsiung tour operators, a visit to Kaohsiung Products Store and Fo Guang Shan (佛光山) Monastery, said it is not visiting Taiwan to explore tourism and it has no plans to meet with local government officials.
Instead, the purpose of the visit is to learn about the development of Taiwan’s rural areas, push for exchanges of specialty agricultural produce between Beijing and Taiwan and to explore the development in the leisure farm industry.
Sun said the group has visited guest houses and tea farms on Alishan (阿里山), as well as Nantou County’s Puli Township (埔里), and members were impressed by what they saw, expressing the hope that they can learn more about Taiwan’s specialty agricultural products and explore how they can enter the Beijing market.
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) of the DPP said the delegation has not contacted the city and she did not know why it canceled its itinerary in Kaohsiung.
Last month, the heads of Hsinchu, Miaoli, Nantou, Hualien, Lienchiang, Taitung and Kinmen counties as well as New Taipei City — which are run by mayors or magistrates from the KMT or who are independents — visited China to express the hope that it continues to purchase Taiwanese products, to expand exchanges in tourism and culture, as well as to establish a communication channel between China’s tourism bureaus and Taiwan’s local governments.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) said at the time that one thing the eight Taiwanese officials have in common was their “identification with the 1992 consensus.”
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