1992 Consensus
Encyclopedia
The 1992 Consensus or Consensus of 1992 is a term describing the outcome of a meeting in 1992 between the semi-official representatives of the People's Republic of China
("PRC") in mainland China
and the Republic of China
("ROC") in Taiwan
. The Consensus, as described by observers, is that, on the subject of the "One China principle", both sides recognise there is only one China - both mainland China and Taiwan belong to the same China, but both sides agree to verbally express the meaning of that one China according to their own individual definition.
The PRC's position is that there is one, undivided sovereignty of China, and that the PRC is the sole legitimate representative of that sovereignty. The ROC's position is that there is one, undivided sovereignty of China, and that the ROC is the sole legitimate representative of that sovereignty.
The 1992 Consensus is the current policy of both the governments of the ROC and the PRC.
between the mainland China-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) and the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation
(SEF). Three months before the meeeting, the Taiwan side (on 1 August 1992) published the following statement in respect of its interpretation of the meaning of "One China":
The above statement was published in the Mainland Affairs Council
, Executive Yuan
, ROC, “Consensus Formed at the
National Development Conference on Cross-Strait Relations,” February 1997. “The Meaning of ‘One China’” was
adopted by the ROC's (now defunct) National Unification Council.
With respect to the actual "1992 Consensus" reached by the two sides in Hong Kong in 1992, the following statement from the Taiwan SEF side is relevant:
The above statement was contained in a Press release (in Chinese) made by the SEF in Taipei on November 3 1992. There appears to be no written record of what the SEF verbally stated at that time in respect of the meaning of "One China" but, given that it was effectively an agent of the ROC Government, it undoubtedly stuck to the ROC's official position at the time (set out above) with respect to the meaning of "One China".
With respect to the actual "1992 Consensus" reached by the two sides in Hong Kong in 1992, the following statement from the Mainland ARATS side is relevant:
The conclusion they reached was intended as a means of side-stepping the conflict over the political status of Taiwan
. At the time of the meeting, Hong Kong was under British rule and therefore considered neutral territory by both sides.
As a result of the 1992 meeting, ARATS Chairman Wang Daohan
and SEF Chairman Koo Chen-fu
met in Singapore
on April 27, 1993 in what became known as the "Wang-Koo summit
". They concluded agreements on document authentication, postal transfers, and a schedule for future ARATS-SEF meetings. Talks were delayed as tensions rose in the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis
, but in October 1998 a second round of Wang-Koo summit were held in Shanghai
. Wang and Koo agreed to meet again in Taiwan in the autumn of 1999, but the meeting was called off by the PRC side when then President Lee Teng-hui
proposed his 'Two-states Theory' whereby each side would treat the other as separate state. PRC officials indicated that this position was unacceptable.
The Kuomintang
(KMT) led ROC government had expressed the 1992 meeting's outcome as "one China with different interpretations": that both sides agreed that there was one China, but indirectly recognised and respected that both sides had different interpretations of that concept. By contrast, the Communist Party of China
(CPC) led PRC government consistently emphasizes that the 1992 meeting reached an understanding that there is "one China". ROC's main opposition party, Democratic Progressive Party
(DPP), however, did not see the 1992 meeting as reaching any consensus on there being only "one China". Instead, it saw the outcome of the meeting as establishing that the two sides had different interpretations of the status quo.
The election of the DPP to the ROC government in 2000 prompted former SEF official Su Chi (蘇起) to coin the term "1992 Consensus" as an ambiguous replacement for the previous terms in order to capture the broadest consensus between the different parties over the outcome of the 1992 meeting. Some who dispute the existence of a "1992 Consensus" claim that if there is a "1992 Consensus", it is that (1) there's only one China; and (2) both sides are free to define what "one China" is;
Also, supporters of the pan-Green coalition
led by the DPP remained insistent that the meetings in 1992 did not come to any consensus over the one China principle. In support of this view, they point out that both Hsu Huei-yu and Koo Chen-fu
, who participated in the 1992 meeting as SEF delegates, have publicly affirmed that the meeting did not result in any consensus on the "one China" issue. Instead, they claim, both sides agreed to proceed with future meetings on the basis of equality and mutual respect. Koo stated in his biography that, "Both sides across the strait have different interpretations of the 1992 Hong Kong meeting. Rather than using 'consensus,' the term of art should be 'understanding' or 'accord' to better reflect the fact, thus avoiding untruthful application."
The Chief of the ROC Mainland Affairs Council
also indicated that no consensus was reached as a result of the 1992 meeting and that the term 1992 Consensus was only introduced by the mass media in 1995. Some Taiwan independence
supporters, such as former President Lee Teng-hui, point to a lack of documentation to argue that the consensus has never existed. However, it is also the case that as of 1992, the government of the ROC still formally adhered to a 'one China' position, one which it only moved away from in the late-1990s.
According to Raymond Burghardt, the chair of the American Institute in Taiwan
, the US's de facto embassy in Taiwan:
Burghardt is thought to be the only US official to have expressed a position on the existence of the 1992 Consensus.
The 1992 Consensus has been described by the ROC president between 1988 to 2000 Lee Teng-hui that it is a consensus without a consensus [on the definition of 'One China'].
In a speech on 10 October 2004, then president Chen Shui-bian
expressed his willingness in initiating dialogue with PRC leaders on "the basis of the 1992 meeting in Hong Kong". This formulation however presumes that no agreement on one China was made in the 1992 meeting, and Chen's speech was widely seen as an effort to establish a basis for negotiations with the PRC without accepting the one China principle. The PRC did not respond to his speech favourably and no dialogues were initiated.
The 1992 Consensus was invoked again the following year, when KMT's chairman Lien Chan
and People's First Party (PFP) chairman Song Chu-Yu made separate trips to Mainland China to begin party-to-party dialogue between the CCP and KMT and between the CCP and PFP. Both leaders explicitly endorsed the 1992 Consensus.
During the debates between then KMT candidate Ma Ying-jeou
and DPP candidate Frank Hsieh
in the lead-up to the 2008 presidential election, Ma stated that 1992 Consensus undoubtedly existed, and that while the DPP were entitled to disagree with it, they could not deny its existence. Furthermore, he stated that the agreements reached in the 2005 Pan-Blue visits to mainland China
, which occurred on the basis of the 1992 Consensus could, if it was beneficial to the people, be developed into policy and thence into law, and put into practice.
The election of the KMT to the ROC government saw both sides of the Taiwan strait moving closer to a common interpretation of the Consensus. In March, PRC's state news agency Xinhua
in its English website reported a telephone discussion between the PRC president Hu Jintao
and his counterpart George W. Bush
. The agency reported that it is PRC's "consistent stand that the Chinese Mainland and Taiwan should restore consultation and talks on the basis of the 1992 Consensus, which sees both sides recognize there is only one China, but agree to differ on its definition". However, Xinhua's Chinese version of the report only stated that the resumption of the talks should be on the basis of the 1992 Consensus without expanding into the meaning of the Consensus.
In his inauguration speech on 20 May 2008, ROC president Ma Ying-jeou stated that in 1992 the two sides of the strait reached a consensus which saw "one China with different interpretations" and the ROC would resume talks with the PRC as soon as possible based on the 1992 Consensus.
On 28 May 2008, KMT Chairman Wu Po-hsiung met Hu Jintao as CPC Chief in Beijing at Hu and the CPC's invitation to engage in a party-to-party dialogue. In the meeting, the parties expressed that both sides across the strait will lay aside disputes, and work for a win-win situation on the basis of the 1992 Consensus. As well as the party-to-party channel, the semi-governmental dialogue channel via the SEF and the ARATS is scheduled to re-open in June 2008 on the basis of the 1992 Consensus, with the first meeting held in Beijing. The first priority for the SEF-ARATS meeting will be the establishments of the three links
, especially direct flights between mainland China and Taiwan.
Weekend direct chartered flights
between mainland China and Taiwan commenced on 4 July 2008 subsequent to the successful cross-strait talks in June 2008.
On 2 September 2008, the ROC President Ma Ying-jeou was interviewed by the Mexico based newspaper Sol de México. He was asked about his views on the subject of 'two Chinas
' and if there is a solution for the sovereignty issues between the two. The ROC President replied that the relations are neither between two Chinas nor two states. It is a special relationship
. Further, he stated that the sovereignty issues between the two cannot be resolved at present, but he quoted the 1992 Consensus, currently accepted by both sides according to Ma, as a temporary measure until a solution becomes available. The spokesman for the ROC Presidential Office Wang Yu-chi later clarified the President's statement and said that the relations are between two regions of one country, based on the ROC Constitutional position, the Statute Governing the Relations Between the Peoples of the Taiwan Area and Mainland Area and the 1992 Consensus.
In 12 January 2011, Xinhua News reiterated Beijing's position on this issue by defining the 1992 Consensus as saying that "under which both sides adhere to the One-China Principle." The One-China Principle says (1) there's only one China;（2）Taiwan is part of China（3）PRC is the only legal representative of China, thus is fundamentally different from the 1992 Consensus coined by Shu Chi.
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
("PRC") in mainland China
Mainland China
Mainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...
and the Republic of China
Republic of China
The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...
("ROC") in Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
. The Consensus, as described by observers, is that, on the subject of the "One China principle", both sides recognise there is only one China - both mainland China and Taiwan belong to the same China, but both sides agree to verbally express the meaning of that one China according to their own individual definition.
The PRC's position is that there is one, undivided sovereignty of China, and that the PRC is the sole legitimate representative of that sovereignty. The ROC's position is that there is one, undivided sovereignty of China, and that the ROC is the sole legitimate representative of that sovereignty.
The 1992 Consensus is the current policy of both the governments of the ROC and the PRC.
Historic background of the term
The "1992 Consensus" is the term used to describe the outcome of a November 1992 meeting in Hong KongHong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
between the mainland China-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) and the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation
Straits Exchange Foundation
The Straits Exchange Foundation is a semi-official organization set up by the Republic of China government to handle technical or business matters with the People's Republic of China...
(SEF). Three months before the meeeting, the Taiwan side (on 1 August 1992) published the following statement in respect of its interpretation of the meaning of "One China":
- "Both sides of the Taiwan Strait agree that there is only one China. However, the two sides of the Strait have different opinions as to the meaning of “one China.” To Peking, “one China” means the “People’s Republic of China (PRC),” with Taiwan to become a “Special Administration Region” after unification. TaipeiTaipeiTaipei City is the capital of the Republic of China and the central city of the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of the island, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River, and is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...
, on the other hand, considers “one China” to mean the Republic of China (ROC), founded in 1911 and with de jure sovereignty over all of China. The ROC, however, currently has jurisdiction only over TaiwanTaiwanTaiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, Penghu, KinmenKinmenKinmen , also known as Quemoy , is a small archipelago of several islands administered by the Republic of China : Greater Kinmen, Lesser Kinmen, and some islets. Administratively, it is Kinmen County of Fujian Province, ROC. The county is claimed by the People's Republic of China as part of its...
, and MatsuMatsuMatsu may refer to:* Matsu Islands, islands of the Republic of China* Matsu , a sea goddess in Chinese folk religion* Matsu, a book by Osamu Dazai* Matanuska-Susitna Valley, an area in south-central Alaska...
. Taiwan is part of China, and the Chinese mainland is part of China as well."
The above statement was published in the Mainland Affairs Council
Mainland Affairs Council
The Mainland Affairs Council is a cabinet-level administrative agency under the Executive Yuan of the Republic of China. The MAC is responsible for the planning, development, and implementation of policies between the Free Area of the Republic of China, commonly known as Taiwan, and the People's...
, Executive Yuan
Executive Yuan
The Executive Yuan is the executive branch of the government of the Republic of China , commonly known as "Taiwan".-Organization and structure:...
, ROC, “Consensus Formed at the
National Development Conference on Cross-Strait Relations,” February 1997. “The Meaning of ‘One China’” was
adopted by the ROC's (now defunct) National Unification Council.
With respect to the actual "1992 Consensus" reached by the two sides in Hong Kong in 1992, the following statement from the Taiwan SEF side is relevant:
- "On November 3 [1992], a responsible person of the Communist Chinese ARATS said that it is willing to “respect and accept” SEF’s proposal that each side “verbally states” its respective principles on “one China."
The above statement was contained in a Press release (in Chinese) made by the SEF in Taipei on November 3 1992. There appears to be no written record of what the SEF verbally stated at that time in respect of the meaning of "One China" but, given that it was effectively an agent of the ROC Government, it undoubtedly stuck to the ROC's official position at the time (set out above) with respect to the meaning of "One China".
With respect to the actual "1992 Consensus" reached by the two sides in Hong Kong in 1992, the following statement from the Mainland ARATS side is relevant:
- "At this working-level consultation in Hong Kong, SEF representatives suggested that each side use respective verbal announcements to state the one China principle. On November 3rd, SEF sent a letter, formally notifying that “each side will make respective statements through verbal announcements.” ARATS fully respects and accepts SEF’s suggestion."
The conclusion they reached was intended as a means of side-stepping the conflict over the political status of Taiwan
Political status of Taiwan
The controversy regarding the political status of Taiwan hinges on whether Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu should remain effectively independent as territory of the Republic of China , become unified with the territories now governed by the People's Republic of China , or formally declare...
. At the time of the meeting, Hong Kong was under British rule and therefore considered neutral territory by both sides.
As a result of the 1992 meeting, ARATS Chairman Wang Daohan
Wang Daohan
Wang Daohan , was the former president of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits .-Biography:...
and SEF Chairman Koo Chen-fu
Koo Chen-fu
Koo Chen-fu , was a Taiwanese businessman and diplomat. He led the Koos Group of companies from 1940 until his death. As a chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation , Koo arranged the first direct talks between Taiwan and China since 1949 and served as Taiwan's negotiator in both the 1993 and...
met in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
on April 27, 1993 in what became known as the "Wang-Koo summit
Wang-Koo summit
The Wang-Koo summit was an attempt at a cross-strait meeting that took place in 1993 with some follow up meetings up to 1998 between Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits chairman Wang Daohan and Straits Exchange Foundation charman Koo Chen-fu.-Pre-meeting:In 1992, a year before the...
". They concluded agreements on document authentication, postal transfers, and a schedule for future ARATS-SEF meetings. Talks were delayed as tensions rose in the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis
Third Taiwan Strait Crisis
The Third Taiwan Strait Crisis, also called the 1995–1996 Taiwan Strait Crisis or the 1996 Taiwan Strait Crisis, was the effect of a series of missile tests conducted by the People's Republic of China in the waters surrounding Taiwan including the Taiwan Strait from July 21, 1995 to March 23, 1996...
, but in October 1998 a second round of Wang-Koo summit were held in Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
. Wang and Koo agreed to meet again in Taiwan in the autumn of 1999, but the meeting was called off by the PRC side when then President Lee Teng-hui
Lee Teng-hui
Lee Teng-hui is a politician of the Republic of China . He was the 7th, 8th, and 9th-term President of the Republic of China and Chairman of the Kuomintang from 1988 to 2000. He presided over major advancements in democratic reforms including his own re-election which marked the first direct...
proposed his 'Two-states Theory' whereby each side would treat the other as separate state. PRC officials indicated that this position was unacceptable.
The Kuomintang
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
(KMT) led ROC government had expressed the 1992 meeting's outcome as "one China with different interpretations": that both sides agreed that there was one China, but indirectly recognised and respected that both sides had different interpretations of that concept. By contrast, the Communist Party of China
Communist Party of China
The Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China...
(CPC) led PRC government consistently emphasizes that the 1992 meeting reached an understanding that there is "one China". ROC's main opposition party, Democratic Progressive Party
Democratic Progressive Party
The Democratic Progressive Party is a political party in Taiwan, and the dominant party in the Pan-Green Coalition. Founded in 1986, DPP is the first meaningful opposition party in Taiwan. It has traditionally been associated with strong advocacy of human rights and a distinct Taiwanese identity,...
(DPP), however, did not see the 1992 meeting as reaching any consensus on there being only "one China". Instead, it saw the outcome of the meeting as establishing that the two sides had different interpretations of the status quo.
The election of the DPP to the ROC government in 2000 prompted former SEF official Su Chi (蘇起) to coin the term "1992 Consensus" as an ambiguous replacement for the previous terms in order to capture the broadest consensus between the different parties over the outcome of the 1992 meeting. Some who dispute the existence of a "1992 Consensus" claim that if there is a "1992 Consensus", it is that (1) there's only one China; and (2) both sides are free to define what "one China" is;
Also, supporters of the pan-Green coalition
Pan-Green Coalition
The Pan-Green Coalition or Pan-Green Camp, is an informal political alliance of the Republic of China, commonly known as "Taiwan", consisting of the Democratic Progressive Party , Taiwan Solidarity Union , and the minor Taiwan Independence Party...
led by the DPP remained insistent that the meetings in 1992 did not come to any consensus over the one China principle. In support of this view, they point out that both Hsu Huei-yu and Koo Chen-fu
Koo Chen-fu
Koo Chen-fu , was a Taiwanese businessman and diplomat. He led the Koos Group of companies from 1940 until his death. As a chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation , Koo arranged the first direct talks between Taiwan and China since 1949 and served as Taiwan's negotiator in both the 1993 and...
, who participated in the 1992 meeting as SEF delegates, have publicly affirmed that the meeting did not result in any consensus on the "one China" issue. Instead, they claim, both sides agreed to proceed with future meetings on the basis of equality and mutual respect. Koo stated in his biography that, "Both sides across the strait have different interpretations of the 1992 Hong Kong meeting. Rather than using 'consensus,' the term of art should be 'understanding' or 'accord' to better reflect the fact, thus avoiding untruthful application."
The Chief of the ROC Mainland Affairs Council
Mainland Affairs Council
The Mainland Affairs Council is a cabinet-level administrative agency under the Executive Yuan of the Republic of China. The MAC is responsible for the planning, development, and implementation of policies between the Free Area of the Republic of China, commonly known as Taiwan, and the People's...
also indicated that no consensus was reached as a result of the 1992 meeting and that the term 1992 Consensus was only introduced by the mass media in 1995. Some Taiwan independence
Taiwan independence
Taiwan independence is a political movement whose goals are primarily to formally establish the Republic of Taiwan by renaming or replacing the Republic of China , form a Taiwanese national identity, reject unification and One country, two systems with the People's Republic of China and a Chinese...
supporters, such as former President Lee Teng-hui, point to a lack of documentation to argue that the consensus has never existed. However, it is also the case that as of 1992, the government of the ROC still formally adhered to a 'one China' position, one which it only moved away from in the late-1990s.
According to Raymond Burghardt, the chair of the American Institute in Taiwan
American Institute in Taiwan
The American Institute in Taiwan is a non-profit, public corporation established under the auspices of the United States government to serve its interests in Taiwan...
, the US's de facto embassy in Taiwan:
- "[There was] some language [in the faxes] that overlapped and some language that differed." Then Taiwan and China agreed to conduct dialogue based on their statements written in those faxes. "That's what happened. Nothing more or nothing less," Burghardt said, adding that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) called this the '1992 Consensus', which was to some extent "confusing and misleading. To me, I'm not sure why you could call that a consensus."
Burghardt is thought to be the only US official to have expressed a position on the existence of the 1992 Consensus.
The 1992 Consensus has been described by the ROC president between 1988 to 2000 Lee Teng-hui that it is a consensus without a consensus [on the definition of 'One China'].
21st Century developments
The PRC has stated that any group in Taiwan with which it has formal talks must support the 1992 Consensus.In a speech on 10 October 2004, then president Chen Shui-bian
Chen Shui-bian
Chen Shui-bian is a former Taiwanese politician who was the 10th and 11th-term President of the Republic of China from 2000 to 2008. Chen, whose Democratic Progressive Party has traditionally been supportive of Taiwan independence, ended more than fifty years of Kuomintang rule in Taiwan...
expressed his willingness in initiating dialogue with PRC leaders on "the basis of the 1992 meeting in Hong Kong". This formulation however presumes that no agreement on one China was made in the 1992 meeting, and Chen's speech was widely seen as an effort to establish a basis for negotiations with the PRC without accepting the one China principle. The PRC did not respond to his speech favourably and no dialogues were initiated.
The 1992 Consensus was invoked again the following year, when KMT's chairman Lien Chan
Lien Chan
Lien Chan is a politician in Taiwan. He was Premier of the Republic of China from 1993 to 1997, Vice President of the Republic of China from 1996 to 2000, and was the Chairman of the Kuomintang from 2000 to 2005...
and People's First Party (PFP) chairman Song Chu-Yu made separate trips to Mainland China to begin party-to-party dialogue between the CCP and KMT and between the CCP and PFP. Both leaders explicitly endorsed the 1992 Consensus.
During the debates between then KMT candidate Ma Ying-jeou
Ma Ying-jeou
Ma Ying-jeou is the 12th term and current President of the Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan, and the Chairman of the Kuomintang Party, also known as the Chinese Nationalist Party. He formerly served as Justice Minister from 1993 to 1996, Mayor of Taipei from 1998 to 2006, and Chairman...
and DPP candidate Frank Hsieh
Frank Hsieh
Frank Hsieh Chang-ting is a Taiwanese politician of the Democratic Progressive Party in the Republic of China. He was the mayor of Kaohsiung City until his appointment as President of the Executive Yuan by president Chen Shui-bian on February 1, 2005. He announced his resignation from the post of...
in the lead-up to the 2008 presidential election, Ma stated that 1992 Consensus undoubtedly existed, and that while the DPP were entitled to disagree with it, they could not deny its existence. Furthermore, he stated that the agreements reached in the 2005 Pan-Blue visits to mainland China
2005 Pan-Blue visits to mainland China
The 2005 Pan-Blue visits to mainland China were a series of groundbreaking visits by delegations of the Kuomintang to mainland China. They were hailed as the highest level of exchange between the Communist Party of China and the Kuomintang since Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong met in Chongqing,...
, which occurred on the basis of the 1992 Consensus could, if it was beneficial to the people, be developed into policy and thence into law, and put into practice.
The election of the KMT to the ROC government saw both sides of the Taiwan strait moving closer to a common interpretation of the Consensus. In March, PRC's state news agency Xinhua
Xinhua News Agency
The Xinhua News Agency is the official press agency of the government of the People's Republic of China and the biggest center for collecting information and press conferences in the PRC. It is the largest news agency in the PRC, ahead of the China News Service...
in its English website reported a telephone discussion between the PRC president Hu Jintao
Hu Jintao
Hu Jintao is the current Paramount Leader of the People's Republic of China. He has held the titles of General Secretary of the Communist Party of China since 2002, President of the People's Republic of China since 2003, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission since 2004, succeeding Jiang...
and his counterpart George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
. The agency reported that it is PRC's "consistent stand that the Chinese Mainland and Taiwan should restore consultation and talks on the basis of the 1992 Consensus, which sees both sides recognize there is only one China, but agree to differ on its definition". However, Xinhua's Chinese version of the report only stated that the resumption of the talks should be on the basis of the 1992 Consensus without expanding into the meaning of the Consensus.
In his inauguration speech on 20 May 2008, ROC president Ma Ying-jeou stated that in 1992 the two sides of the strait reached a consensus which saw "one China with different interpretations" and the ROC would resume talks with the PRC as soon as possible based on the 1992 Consensus.
On 28 May 2008, KMT Chairman Wu Po-hsiung met Hu Jintao as CPC Chief in Beijing at Hu and the CPC's invitation to engage in a party-to-party dialogue. In the meeting, the parties expressed that both sides across the strait will lay aside disputes, and work for a win-win situation on the basis of the 1992 Consensus. As well as the party-to-party channel, the semi-governmental dialogue channel via the SEF and the ARATS is scheduled to re-open in June 2008 on the basis of the 1992 Consensus, with the first meeting held in Beijing. The first priority for the SEF-ARATS meeting will be the establishments of the three links
Three Links
The Three Links or Three Linkages was a "message of Compatriots in Taiwan" calling for the unification of mainland China and Taiwan. It was sent by the PRC National People's Congress in 1979....
, especially direct flights between mainland China and Taiwan.
Weekend direct chartered flights
Cross-strait charter
The cross-strait charters are special flights between Taiwan and mainland China, across the Taiwan Strait. After the Chinese Civil War, no direct flights were allowed between Taiwan and mainland China due to mistrust and security concerns; this remained the case until 2003...
between mainland China and Taiwan commenced on 4 July 2008 subsequent to the successful cross-strait talks in June 2008.
On 2 September 2008, the ROC President Ma Ying-jeou was interviewed by the Mexico based newspaper Sol de México. He was asked about his views on the subject of 'two Chinas
Two Chinas
The term Two Chinas refers to the two states with "China" in their official names: People's Republic of China , commonly known as "China", established in 1949, controlling mainland China and two special administrative regions, Hong Kong and Macau...
' and if there is a solution for the sovereignty issues between the two. The ROC President replied that the relations are neither between two Chinas nor two states. It is a special relationship
Special non-state-to-state relations
Special Non-State-to-State Relations is a term used by Ma Ying-jeou, the President of the Republic of China to describe the nature of relations between the Taiwan Area and the Mainland China Area...
. Further, he stated that the sovereignty issues between the two cannot be resolved at present, but he quoted the 1992 Consensus, currently accepted by both sides according to Ma, as a temporary measure until a solution becomes available. The spokesman for the ROC Presidential Office Wang Yu-chi later clarified the President's statement and said that the relations are between two regions of one country, based on the ROC Constitutional position, the Statute Governing the Relations Between the Peoples of the Taiwan Area and Mainland Area and the 1992 Consensus.
In 12 January 2011, Xinhua News reiterated Beijing's position on this issue by defining the 1992 Consensus as saying that "under which both sides adhere to the One-China Principle." The One-China Principle says (1) there's only one China;（2）Taiwan is part of China（3）PRC is the only legal representative of China, thus is fundamentally different from the 1992 Consensus coined by Shu Chi.
External links
- Su, Chi: "I created the 1992 Consensus" (Chinese)
- People's Daily Backgrounder
- No 1992 consensus, MAC chief says
- Lu: Taiwan can't accept "one China"
- Lee denies existence of "1992 consensus"
- "SEF urges resumption of cross-strait talks"
- Debate over 1992 'one China' consensus rages on
- Chen's 10/10/04 speech