Presidential candidates fight over ways to keep peace with China
ROC Central News Agency
2011/12/03 20:26:52
Taipei, Dec. 3 (CNA) President Ma Ying-jeou accused his main presidential election rival, Tsai Ing-wen, Saturday of failing to recognize the "1992 consensus," a move that Ma said will destabilize Taiwan's ties with China.
Tsai, chairwoman of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), however, lauded her proposed "Taiwan consensus" as a better solution for dealing with Beijing.
During a televised presidential debate, Ma said the "1992 consensus" has kept cross-strait relations stable and should remain the basis for conducting peace talks with China.
The ruling Kuomintang (KMT) describes the "1992 consensus" as a tacit understanding reached between the two sides of the strait that "there is only one China, with each side free to interpret what that means."
Fundamental to the "1992 consensus" is that both Taiwan and China should put political issues aside to proceed with substantive cooperation in fields such as trade, said Ma.
"The 1992 consensus is the best approach for a win-win situation," he said. "Cross-strait relations will become unstable without the acknowledgment of it -- which is dangerous for the Taiwanese people."
Tsai held a news conference the previous day to say she will set up a task force for cross-strait dialogue if elected. During Saturday's debate, she again rebutted the existence of such a consensus.
Tsai said there should instead be a "Taiwan consensus" to decide what issues should be discussed between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait and how the discussions should be handled.
While there was indeed a cross-strait meeting in 1992, no consensus was reached in that year, according to Tsai.
Even the late Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) chairman, Koo Chen-fu, who attended the meeting, denied there was any such consensus reached, Tsai said.
"The '1992 consensus' is an agreement between the Communist Party of China and the then-ruling Kuomintang, not the Taiwanese people," she added.
Further, Tsai said, the lack of public involvement and parliamentary supervision over the "1992 consensus" has "severely hurt Taiwan's democracy."
Instead, the country's first female presidential candidate said that a "Taiwan consensus" -- through a democratic mechanism in which different opinions can be fully presented and evaluated -- is the key to maintaining peace with China.
Responding to Tsai's argument, Ma said she has never clarified what her "Taiwan consensus" means.
An ambiguous policy, the "Taiwan consensus" will add uncertainty to cross-strait relations, which will be to Taiwan's disadvantage, Ma said.
Only his principle of "no unification, no independence, and no use of force," along with the "1992 consensus," can solve cross-strait problems, he added.
Meanwhile, People First Party (PFP) presidential candidate James Soong said that if elected, he will make it clear to Beijing that it should respect "the willingness of the people of Taiwan to maintain the cross-strait status quo."
According to some polls, Ma and Tsai are no longer locked in a tight race as they have been in recent months, with Ma starting to take the lead, while Soong remains a distant third.
Saturday's televised debate was the first of two presidential candidate debates. The other is scheduled to take place Dec. 17, while a vice presidential candidate debate will be held Dec. 10. (By Lee Hsin-Yin) ENDITEM/tc/J
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