The issue with the so-called “1992 consensus” is that there is no consensus about whether it exists or what it actually means, Premier William Lai told legislators yesterday, adding that the nation needs to address the problem.
Lai made the remarks at a plenary legislative session in response to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Legislator Yosi Takun’s (孔文吉) demand that he and President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) acknowledge the “1992 consensus.”
Citing Chinese Premier Xi Jinping’s (習近平) report to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) 19th National Congress, Yosi Takun said that Tsai and Lai should accept the “historical fact of the 1992 consensus” and resume dialogue with Beijing.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
“We are willing to have exchanges with any Taiwanese party, group or individual who… acknowledges the 1992 consensus and believes both the Mainland and Taiwan belongs to ‘one China,’” Xi told the congress on Wednesday.
Lai said Taiwanese society is divided on the “1992 consensus” framework.
“Some think the government should accept the ‘1992 consensus,’ while others believe there is no consensus. Even those who believe that it exists do not believe in China’s version,’” Lai said.
“There are two interpretations of one 1992 consensus,” Lai said, adding that China understands its “1992 consensus” to mean its “one China” ideology, while KMT Chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) believes the framework means that each side can have its own interpretation of what “China” means.
“We need to take this problem seriously,” Lai added.
He said that Taiwan is a sovereign and independent country and that the Executive Yuan would continue to abide by Tsai’s cross-strait directive that the government would not change its goodwill or its promise of maintaining the “status quo,” nor would it compromise under pressure.
The Executive Yuan remains unwavering in its commitment to protect national sovereignty, as well as the nation’s free and democratic way of life, to develop the country’s economy and to strengthen the nation, he said.
“A tacit understanding should not be clarified in the open,” Yosi Takun said, to which Lai said that people need to deal with the issue candidly, as it could have severe ramifications for the future of the country.
Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Katharine Chang (張小月) said that Xi’s statement was a “carrot-and-stick ploy,” but that the government’s stance is to adhere to the values of freedom and democracy, while demonstrating sincerity and goodwill to the other side.
The “1992 consensus,” a term former MAC chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted to making up in 2000, refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the CCP that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and Chunghwa Telecom yesterday confirmed that an international undersea cable near Keelung Harbor had been cut by a Chinese ship, the Shunxin-39, a freighter registered in Cameroon. Chunghwa Telecom said the cable had its own backup equipment, and the incident would not affect telecommunications within Taiwan. The CGA said it dispatched a ship under its first fleet after receiving word of the incident and located the Shunxin-39 7 nautical miles (13km) north of Yehliu (野柳) at about 4:40pm on Friday. The CGA demanded that the Shunxin-39 return to seas closer to Keelung Harbor for investigation over the
An apartment building in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) collapsed last night after a nearby construction project earlier in the day allegedly caused it to tilt. Shortly after work began at 9am on an ongoing excavation of a construction site on Liuzhang Street (六張街), two neighboring apartment buildings tilted and cracked, leading to exterior tiles peeling off, city officials said. The fire department then dispatched personnel to help evacuate 22 residents from nine households. After the incident, the city government first filled the building at No. 190, which appeared to be more badly affected, with water to stabilize the
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
Taiwan plans to cull as many as 120,000 invasive green iguanas this year to curb the species’ impact on local farmers, the Ministry of Agriculture said. Chiu Kuo-hao (邱國皓), a section chief in the ministry’s Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency, on Sunday said that green iguanas have been recorded across southern Taiwan and as far north as Taichung. Although there is no reliable data on the species’ total population in the country, it has been estimated to be about 200,000, he said. Chiu said about 70,000 iguanas were culled last year, including about 45,000 in Pingtung County, 12,000 in Tainan, 9,900 in
RSS