WangYi : Three Unimaginable Consequences if “1992 Consensus” Abandoned

WangYi : Three Unimaginable Consequences if “1992 Consensus” Abandoned

Source: China Times

August 1, 2011

Wang Yi, director of the Taiwan Affairs Office under the Mainland’s State Council, while meeting with Chinese residents from Taiwan in Chicago, stressed that the “1992 Consensus” was the premise for the resumption of talks between the Mainland’s Association for Relations across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), and if the “1992 Consensus” were to be abandoned or denied, cross-Strait relations would face three unimaginable consequences: 1) The ARATS and the SEF would be unable to continue to solve cross-Strait problems on an equal footing.  2) The two sides of the Strait would be unable to build mutual trust and engage in benign interactions.  3) The two sides of the Taiwan Strait would be unable to deepen cross-Strait cooperation.

According to the Xinhua News Agency, the Mainland’s official press agency, Wang Yi explained the Mainland’s attitude toward cross-Strait relations with three communalities: 1) Cross-Strait peaceful development should be cherished by the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.  2) Cross-Strait peaceful development must be jointly maintained by the people on both sides of the Strait.  3) The future of cross-Strait peaceful development should be jointly created by the people on both sides of the Strait.

Wang Yi went on to say that maintaining cross-Strait peaceful development required jointly promoting cross-Strait economic development, cross-reference in culture, and mutual social integration, but the most important thing was to adamantly guarantee the maintenance and consolidation of the cross-Strait political basis of opposing Taiwan independence and insisting on the “1992 Consensus.”

Wang Yi pointed out that both sides reached a consensus on insisting on the one China principle by verbal statements through consultations in 1992, and the consensus thereafter was dubbed as the “1992 Consensus.”  Wang Yi added that the essence of the consensus was shelving differences and seeking commonalities, that is to say, both sides sought to identify with the concept of one China and agreed to shelve the differences in the interpretation of the meaning of one China.  The core of the consensus was that there was only one China despite the existence of cross-Strait political confrontations, and the territory of the nation was not, and could not be, split, added Wang Yi.

Wang Yi emphasized that if someone in Taiwan again proposed the “two-state theory” or “one state on either side,” and intended to turn back the clock, it would lead to interference in cross-Strait exchanges in all fields, damage the interests of the people on both sides of the Strait, especially those on Taiwan, and impact peaceful development in cross-Strait relations.

According to an article in the Taiwan-based China Times, Wang Yi’s main goals in visiting the United States were: 1) Meet with US officials to express the Mainland’s opposition to arms sales to Taiwan.  2) Meet with Chinese residents from Taiwan and explain the basic position about the resumption of talks between the ARATS and the SEF in recent years.  The article noted that Wang Yi further pointed out that the Mainland’s bottom line on the basis of SEF-ARATS negotiations was the “1992 Consensus.”

The article added that the political message Wang Yi tried to deliver was that Beijing had a sense of uncertainty about the “mysterious direction” of the DPP Presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen, and misgivings about whether Taiwan would face another turnover of political parties next year.

Wang Yi clearly claimed that the Taiwan was 【Mainland】 China’sdomestic issue.  Responding to Wang Yi’s remarks, Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Liu Te-shun stated that the Republic of China was a sovereign state, not a domestic issue of the Mainland.

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