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Chinese official appeals for consensus
COMMON VIEW: Li Yafei said Taiwan and China should focus on establishing mutual
trust, which could be built up by jointly opposing Taiwanese independence
By Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTER
Thursday, Aug 12, 2010, Page 3
Cross-Strait Peace Development Foundation
president Lien Chan, right, shakes hands with Li Yafei, assistant minister of
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, at a forum on cross-strait peace and the creation
of wealth in Taipei yesterday.
PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
A Chinese official yesterday urged Taipei and Beijing to seek more common ground
rather than focusing on disagreements to resolve differences. The official,
however, denied that the remarks were aimed at the Mainland Affairs Council
(MAC) chief, who last week urged Beijing to abolish policies and laws concerning
military deployments against Taiwan.
Assistant Minister of the Taiwan Affairs Office Li Yafei (李亞飛) said that both
sides of the Taiwan Strait should put aside disputes and create a win-win
scenario.
“Putting aside differences means making an effort to find a common ground,
rather than picking out contrarieties,” he said.
“The first step to achieving this goal is to accumulate mutual trust,” he said,
adding that mutual trust could be established by “jointly opposing Taiwanese
independence.”
Li made the remarks while visiting Straits Exchange Foundation Vice Chairman Kao
Koong-lian (高孔廉) yesterday afternoon.
Asked what he meant by “picking out contrarieties,” Li downplayed his comment,
saying he meant to stress that both sides must work in concert to maintain sound
mutual trust and peaceful development.
“My comment wasn’t directed at anything. It’s nothing special,” he said.
Li’s comment was the first official response from Beijing after Mainland Affairs
Council Minister Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) last week urged Beijing to abolish
“policies and laws” on military deployments targeting Taiwan.
While giving a speech at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington on
Wednesday last week, Lai said China’s military buildup and its “policy of taking
Taiwan by force” were obstacles that must be removed if cross-strait relations
were to move forward.
While Lai stopped short of mentioning China’s “Anti-Secession” Law, Mainland
Affairs Council Deputy Minister Liu Te-shun (劉德勳) in Taipei on Thursday last
week called on China to review the law, which he described as “something
unnecessary” in cross-strait relations.
Lai later denied that China had played a role in her cancellation of a speech
scheduled on Saturday in Los Angeles. The last-minute change of plan prompted
speculation that China had pressured her to cancel the speech after her remarks.
While Lai also said that the timing and conditions were not ripe for military or
political negotiations, Li yesterday said the two sides did not necessarily have
to resolve all the problems at the moment.
However, if both sides felt the need for talks to advance developments in
bilateral ties, cross-strait problems would “naturally” be resolved, he said.
Over the past two years, the two sides have laid a sound foundation for economic
cooperation and exchanges under the so-called “1992 consensus” and opposition to
Taiwanese independence, he said.
Li said the “1992 consensus” was a “verbal consensus reached by the SEF and the
ARATS [Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait] in 1992 that the two
sides of the Taiwan Strait insist on the ‘one China principle.’”
The Taiwanese government, however, maintains that the so-called “1992 consensus”
posits that the two sides “agree to disagree” on the meaning of “one China.”
Since Taipei and Beijing signed the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA)
in June, cross-strait exchanges would move from economic matters to culture,
education and healthcare, Li said.
Li, who arrived on Tuesday for a three-day visit, also took part in a
cross-strait wealth-creation forum held by the Want Want China Times Group.
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