1992 consensus needed: Beijing official

Wang Yi, director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, made the remarks in a closed-door meeting with representatives of overseas Taiwanese in Washington on Wednesday (local time) when asked how Beijing would respond to Taiwan's presidential election on Jan. 14, 2012.

Wang's remarks imply that should Tsai Ing-wen, chairwoman of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) overturn the “1992 Consensus” on the “one-China” principle after winning the election, then the implementation of the ECFA, the visit of Chinese tourists to Taiwan and the provincial buy-Taiwan delegations will be suspended.

Wang pointed out that for Beijing, Tsai's “one side, one country” assertion on the cross-strait ties is a kind of “Taiwan independence.”

The “1992 Consensus,” on the “one-China” principle and its respective verbal wording of both sides, was reached in a meeting in November 1992 held in Hong Kong by the Association for Relations Across Taiwan Straits (ARATS) of the mainland, headed by Wang Daohan, and the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) of Taiwan, led by Koo Chen-fu. The consensus is that “both sides of the (Taiwan) Straits adhere to the 'one-China' principle” and orally explain the principle respectively.

Wang stressed that cross-straits ties can hardly remain stable and peaceful if they are not founded on an anti-Taiwan independence stance and the 1992 Consensus on the one-China principle.

Wang continued that based on public opinion polls, the majority of people surveyed expressed their support for the improvement in the cross-strait ties. “Any political party in Taiwan should cherish such a mainstream public opinion and work out policies based on the opinion.”

The development of cross-straits ties has been closely related to the interests of people in Taiwan and mainland China. “We hope people in Taiwan to join hands with people in the mainland to maintain the current stable and peaceful ties across the Taiwan Straits and prevent the ties from becoming stagnant or going backward,” Wang said.

Over the past three years, cross-strait ties have progressed considerably as both sides have shared the stance recognizing the “1992 Consensus,” according to Wang.

This year, Wang emphasized, expanded cross-straits exchanges can bring substantive interests to people in Taiwan, such as allowing Chinese people in designated cities to make free individual trips to Taiwan, sharply boosting the number of direct cross-strait flights, negotiation on the bilateral investment protection agreement, and the implementation of the ECFA, etc.

During the closed-door meeting, quite a few participating representatives of overseas Taiwanese called for mainland China to remove all the missiles targeting Taiwan before the Jan. 14 presidential election on the island.

Wang responded that removing the missiles is not necessarily related to elections, adding that the missiles are targeting at “Taiwan independence” instead of “Taiwan.”

If Ma Ying-jeou and the Kuomintang stay in force after the upcoming elections, there will be no “Taiwan independence,” “no missile” and “no military” issues, according to Wang.

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