Honorary Chairman Lien Chan’s Statement

Press Release

Honorary Chairman Lien Chan’s Statement

With regard to the United Daily News report on November 1 concerning the KMT’s decision to delete the words “National Unification Guidelines” and “1992 Consensus” from the party’s Central Missions, KMT Honorary Chairman Lien Chan issued the following statement:

The 1992 Consensus is an important document with historic origins and political significance. It has long been the core of KMT’s cross-Strait policies. All KMT members and supporters have been abiding by it out of the belief that it is conducive to the wellbeing of the people on Taiwan and cross-Strait peace.

The National Unification Guidelines have always been the KMT’s highest guiding principles, and the 1992 Consensus has been upheld as the basis for cross-Strait exchanges and negotiations. Both documents have been written into the party platform.

The mainstream values shared by people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait today are “diluting hostility, alleviating tension, striving for peace, and jointly creating prosperity.” Any individual or political party that goes against this trend will certainly be abandoned by the people.

Winning the legislative and Presidential elections is the common appropriation of all members of the KMT. However, we must not go with the flow and “dance to someone else’s tunes.” Switching to the win-at-all-cost mentality and sacrificing our own principles would make us no different from the DPP.

It is a fallacy to assume that deleting the 1992 Consensus is an act of loving Taiwan and a token of nativism. It is sheer nonsense to assume that doing so would drum up more support from pan-Green and swing voters. Doing so would achieve nothing else but hurting the feelings of true-Blue, pure-Blue, pro-Blue electorate and the vast population of independent-minded voters. The KMT central must adopt a solemn, prudent, and responsible attitude in introducing major adjustments in party platforms and central missions.



Fact File: The 1992 Consensus

In November 1992, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) from Mainland China and the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) from Taiwan sat down at the negotiation table in Hong Kong. The meeting was supposed to be discussing administrative affairs, but ended up with no consensus as both sides disagreed over the interpretation of the One-China Principle. The Mainland Chinese side proposed five interpretations, whereas the Taiwanese side offered three, but none was adopted.

The debate was put aside after the SEF raised the idea of allowing different oral interpretations of stance. After serious pondering, the ARATS expressed its respect and acceptance of the idea of individual oral interpretations of the One-China Principle.

Following Taiwan’s Presidential election in March 2000 but before the turnover on May 20, 2000, then Mainland Affairs Council Chairperson Su Chi coined the term “the 1992 Consensus.” Su believed that maintaining a certain level of ambiguity in the interpretation of the One-China Principle would be beneficial to both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

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