President reiterates Taiwan, China in special relationship
ROC Central News Agency
2013/11/11 16:58:35
Taipei, Nov. 11 (CNA) President Ma Ying-jeou reiterated on Monday that cross-Taiwan Strait relations are not state-to-state relations, and that the Chinese mainland cannot be considered by Taiwan as a foreign country.
If cross-strait ties were state-to-state, there would be no need for the Mainland Affairs Council, and relations would be handled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Ma said at a meeting of the ruling Kuomintang, of which he is chairman.
Mainland Chinese issues are also not purely domestic, Ma said, because exports to China are charged import duties and permits are needed for Taiwanese seeking entry into China and Chinese coming to Taiwan.
These conditions demonstrate Taiwan and China are in a special relationship, Ma said, reiterating a position that drew criticism when he last mentioned it in his National Day speech in October.
In that address, the president said 'cross-Taiwan Strait relations are not international relations,' which opposition politicians said signaled the possibility of unification with China and represented a concession to Beijing.
Ma said Monday that his views were supported by the Republic of China (Taiwan) Constitution because it does not allow for two Chinas, one China and one Taiwan, or an independent Taiwan.
The president also cited the Constitution in defending his definition of the cross-strait relationship as one in which Taiwan and mainland China do not deny each other's authority to govern but do not recognize each other's sovereignty.
That definition of cross-strait ties 'did not begin when we took office but was settled when the Constitution was amended over 20 years ago' and was not changed by his two predecessors, Lee Teng-hui and Chen Shui-bian, the president said.
(By Lee Shu-hua and Scully Hsiao)
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