Epitaph for the 1992 Consensus

 Epitaph for the 1992 Consensus

China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

September 26, 2017

 Translation of an Excerpt

Su Chi, a former secretary-general of the National Security Council, in a speech a couple of days ago, explained the historical context of the 1992 Consensus, “using the ambiguity of sovereignty to create cooperation between jurisdictions.” On the same day, Tsai Ing-wen, in a speech at the DPP national party congress, declared that "we must persist in the principles of Taiwan’s self-identity and sovereignty, seeking a new model for interaction with the other side of the Strait." The two statements seemingly have jointly published an epitaph for the 1992 Consensus, without a prior accord.

According to Su Chi, he designed the 1992 Consensus for the benefit of the DPP, hoping that this ambiguous phrase could embrace the stances of all circles. In 2008 the KMT came back to power; this noun phrase indeed contributed to mending cross-Strait relations, achieving a historical highest point in the degree of mutual non-denial of each other’s jurisdictions and leading to even more vibrant private sector exchanges. The ambiguous noun phrase created a clear-cut consensus, resolving the fundamental barrier vis-à-vissovereignty lying across the Strait and avoiding the continued entanglement on political issues so as to concentrate energy and efforts on promoting exchanges in all facets, including economic, cultural and social.

With the exit of the 1992 Consensus from the historical stage, both the DPP and the KMT lack the willingness to solve the problem. The DPP's ultimate stance is Taiwan independence, thus it all the time adopts an evasive attitude on the one China issue by using denial of the 1992 Consensus as a pretext. The KMT is only willing to emphasize different interpretations [on one China], making the solution of the problem a premise that the other side must accept, the end result being that it naturally forfeits the advantage in handling cross-Strait issues, undermining the foundation of mutual trust between the KMT and the CCP. Currently, Taiwan must, while insisting on the principle of upholding sovereignty, erect a new model of interaction with the Mainland. This means that cross-Strait confrontation will possibly become a long-term state of affairs.

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