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Chinese Taiwan policy based on political
premise
Staff Writer, with CNA
China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen
Yunlin (陳雲林) said on Thursday that Beijing’s economic policy toward Taiwan is
based on a political premise that both sides uphold the so-called “1992
consensus” and are opposed to the idea of Taiwanese independence.
“Without opposition to Taiwan independence and recognition of the ’92 consensus,
China might have to reconsider its cross-strait economic policy and measures,”
Chen said while dining with senior executives of the Association of Taiwan
Investment Enterprises on the Mainland (ATIEM), a Beijing-sanctioned Taiwanese
trade group.
Some Chinese political analysts said Chen’s remarks were a veiled warning to
Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) that he should refrain from following the
Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) rhetoric and policy line in handling
cross-strait affairs.
During the dinner in Beijing, Chen told ATIEM executives, many of whom are heads
of Taiwanese trade associations in major Chinese cities and provinces, that the
peaceful development of cross-strait relations “did not spring out of nowhere.”
If the two sides of the Taiwan Strait had not upheld the “1992 consensus” and
the “no pursuit of Taiwan independence” stance, he said, cross-strait relations
would not reached their present stage.
Although Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶)
have said Taiwan and China are “brothers,” that brotherhood should be built on
the aforesaid premise of “no pursuit of independence” and recognition of the
“1992 consensus,” Chen said.
The so-called “1992 consensus,” a term which former Mainland Affairs Council
chairman Su Chi (蘇起) has admitted making up in 2000, refers to an alleged
understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese
government that both sides of the Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with
each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
In an apparent response to DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) recent statement
that if her party regained power it would maintain the China policy of the
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration, Chen said cross-strait issues
are not as simple as “paying lip service.”
The Presidential Office did not issue any immediate response to Chen’s remarks.
Several Chinese political academics have said Chen’s statement could be
interpreted as a reminder to Ma after the president’s New Year’s Day address,
which may have given Beijing cause for concern.
In his speech, Ma said “Taiwan’s future is in the hands of our 23 million
people. We decide matters for ourselves. We must steadfastly defend the Republic
of China’s sovereignty and work to protect Taiwan’s dignity.”
In the eyes of Beijing leaders, such a discourse closely resembles the DPP’s
Resolution on Taiwan’s Future issued 12 years ago, the Chinese scholars said.
Chang Jung-kung (張榮恭), director of the KMT’s Mainland Affairs Department, said
Chen’s remarks were mainly aimed at the DPP because the pro-independence party
will soon unveil a new policy line with regard to cross-strait engagements.
“Chen was reminding the DPP that Beijing is unlikely to engage with it unless
the party publicly recognizes the ‘1992 consensus,’” Chang said.
The DPP maintains that the two sides never reached such a consensus.
DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) said Chen’s remarks again validated the DPP’s
warning to the KMT administration that China’s “economic concessions” toward
Taiwan, like those adopted in the cross-strait Economic Cooperation Framework
Agreement (ECFA) are politically motivated.
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