Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman-elect Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday said he hopes the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will seek common ground and respect differences on the basis of the “1992 consensus” and opposition to Taiwanese independence.
Chu made the remarks in response to a congratulatory letter from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) written in his capacity as general secretary of the CCP Central Committee on the occasion of Chu’s election as KMT chairman on Saturday.
In the recent past, the KMT and the CCP had good interactions, bolstered cooperation and promoted the peaceful development of cross-strait relations based on the common political basis of adhering to the “1992 consensus” and opposing Taiwanese independence, Xi said in his letter, according to a copy released by the KMT.
Photo: CNA
“At present, the situation in the Taiwan Strait is complex and grim,” Xi wrote, calling for unity among “all Zhonghua (中華) sons and daughters” and expressing the hope that the two parties will work together to “seek peace for the Taiwan Strait, seek reunification for the country and seek rejuvenation for the nation.”
For more than 30 years, there had been good progress in exchanges and cooperation at all levels of cross-strait relations due to the continued efforts of the KMT and the CCP, Chu said in his response, a copy provided by the KMT showed.
However, in the past few years, under the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) administration, a “desinicization” and “anti-China” policy has been adopted, changing the “status quo” across the Strait, and resulting in a precarious situation and trepidation among people on both sides, he wrote.
Chu said he hopes that the KMT and the CCP will, on the basis of the “1992 consensus” and opposition to Taiwanese independence, seek common ground and respect differences, increase mutual trust, and bolster exchanges and cooperation so that the peaceful development of cross-strait relations can continue.
Chu is expected to be sworn in as KMT chairman on the same day as the party’s National Congress, which is scheduled to convene on Oct. 30, according to the KMT’s charter.
A two-term New Taipei City mayor, Chu won Saturday’s chairperson election with 85,164, or 45.78 percent, of the 186,018 valid votes cast by eligible KMT members, results released by the party’s Central Election Supervision Committee showed.
In January 2015, Chu was elected KMT chairman in an unopposed by-election, but he resigned one year later over the party’s losses in the Jan. 16, 2016, presidential and legislative elections, in which he was the KMT’s presidential candidate.
The “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted making up in 2000, refers to a tacit 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.
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