KMT Honorary Chairman Wu Po-hsiung Meets CPC General Secretary Hu Jintao

KMT Honorary Chairman Wu Po-hsiung Meets CPC General Secretary Hu Jintao

Sources: KMT Culture and Communications Committee/ CNA News

Mar. 23, 2012

The KMT visiting delegation headed by Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄), KMT honorary chairman, met with Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People (人民大會堂) on March 22^nd. Regarding the future development of cross-Strait relations, honorary chairman Wu stated during the meeting that he hoped both sides of the Strait could increase mutual trust, accumulate goodwill, deepen cooperation and expand exchanges across the Strait, in order to carry out benign interactions between Taiwan and the Mainland on the basis of peace and stability, mutual prosperity, and cultural and educational exchanges. Wu also said that apart from continuously seeking opportunities to sign cross-Strait agreements benefiting people on both sides of the Strait, Taiwan also hoped that the Mainland would understand that in addition to continuing to make improvements on the reduction of cross-Strait military hostilities and tensions, people on Taiwan were also anxious to expand Taipei’s international breathing space.

KMT honorary chairman Wu also pointed out that the political system of Taiwan and its fundamental law established a multi-party democratic system, so the leadership was chosen by popular will, and any important decision made by the government must be based on legislation and public oversight. For this reason, the KMT was glad to see figures from the Green camp visit the Mainland, enhancing mutual understanding, stated Wu, adding that he believed that this could also help reduce political divisions within Taiwan for consensus-building.

Wu said that the KMT upheld the “1992 Consensus” and opposed Taiwan independence, and the public pursued economic prosperity, clean government, and peace, therefore, the KMT was again supported by the majority on Taiwan in the latest general elections. The positive election results gave the KMT more confidence to face the benign cross-Strait interactions as well as to work with the other side of the Strait to open a new vista for cross-Strait relations, added the KMT honorary chairman.

Wu Po-hsiung explained that Taiwan currently promoted cross-Strait relations on the basis of the “Statute Governing Relations between People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area” (兩岸人民關係條例), which was legally and factually based on the concept of “One Country, Two Areas,” (一國兩區) adding that the authority in charge of cross-Strait affairs was the ROC’s “Mainland Affairs Council,” not the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which amply demonstrated that cross-Strait relations were “not state-to-state relations,” instead, they were a special relationship.

Moreover, Wu stated that with increasing mutual political trust between Taipei and Beijing, and deepening cross-Strait exchanges in all fields and levels, he hoped that the possibility of dissolving cross-Strait differences could be increased in the future when more and more commonalities between both sides of the Strait were accumulated.

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In order to prevent any possible misunderstanding, Wu explained his earlier statement on “One Country, Two Areas” at a press conference held after the “Wu-Hu Talk.” Wu pointed out that the ROC Constitution was written based on the principle of “One China,” and later Constitutional amendments had added the concept of “Two Areas,” therefore, the meaning of “One Country” was crystal clear.

Wu explained that the concept of “One Country, Two Areas” differed greatly from “One Country, Two Systems,” because the source of law of the “Statute Governing Relations between People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area” was the Constitution, as amended, and the concept of “two areas” was included in the amendments. Furthermore, the source of law of the “Statute Governing Relations between People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area” was the fundamental law of the nation, he added.

He emphasized that Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), a former Premier of DPP affiliation, had also advocated the “One China Constitution,” adding that the existing “Statute Governing Relations between People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area,” were enacted during the former President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) administration. In other words, the concept of “Two Areas” had gone through several administrations, under Lee Teng-hui, Chen Sui-bian (陳水扁), up to the present.

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