The Majority Of Consensus Building Body, Which Depend On Whole Taiwanese's Wills.

The Majority Of Consensus Building Body, Which Depend On Whole Taiwanese's Wills.

[ Up ]

Nov. 24, 2000 ---
With a sovereignty row dividing the Democratic Progressive Party-led government, the opposition alliance urged the government to return to the 1992 consensus between Beijing and Taipei, where both sides “agreed to disagree on the definition of ‘one China’”.

The newly-forged alliance, which has pinpointed cross-strait ties as one of six areas meriting particular concern, said that the government should not drag its feet on cross-strait issues.

“The Chen administration has been shilly-shallying on cross-strait relations for six months,” said People First Party spokesman Lee Ching-hua.

Lawmaker Lee Sen-zong, head of the Kuomintang policy making body, said the DPP-led government is visibly divided over the sovereignty row and called on the party to adhere to the 1992 consensus on the issue.

In a bid to bring the government to heel, Lee said that a session of the Legislature’s cross-strait task force should be convened.

The task force was formed at the heed of the opposition alliance Nov. 14, drawing fire from DPP lawmakers who saw the move as usurping the President’s Advisory Group on Cross-Strait relations.

New Party convener, Lai Shyhbao, said that business leaders share the opposition’s concerns.

The opening of direct trade and transport links, and the “go slow, be patient” policy, regarding investment in the mainland, all dovetail with the “one China” issue, he maintained.

Beijing has insisted that Taipei recognize “one China” as a precondition to resuming long-stalled talks between the sides, which split amidst civil war in 1949.

The President’s Advisory Group on Cross-Strait relations is still bogged down in debate over the thorny issue.

The majority of the consensus building body, which is chaired by Academia Sinica President Lee Yuan-tseh, are leaning toward a proposal spearheaded by cross-strait expert Wu Feng-shan.

However, pro-independence members of the group find fault with the proposal, which acknowledges that Taiwan is part of China in a broad historical sense.

They also take umbrage at Wu’s suggestion that a meeting of the National Unification Council be convened.

Members of the group indicated that in the final draft the “one China” statement will be circumvented by stating that Taiwan and mainland China share the same historical background, reports said.

Although the final wording is yet to be agreed upon, Wu’s version, which is called “three acknowledgements and four suggestions” by local media, will form the backbone of the final consensus, which is likely to be announced Saturday.