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President extends greatest good will to China: spokesman

ROC Central News Agency

2016/05/20 20:50:36

Taipei, May 20 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) showed maximum flexibility and good will to China in her inauguration speech Friday, and her stance on cross-strait relations represented Taiwan's "greatest common denominator," Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺) said.

Tsai's speech also fulfilled the international community's expectations of stable and peaceful cross-strait relations and upheld the bottom line of Taiwan's sovereignty and democracy, Huang said.

The president also kept her promise to "build a consistent, predictable and sustainable cross-strait relationship," he said.

Tsai's inauguration speech on Friday had been widely anticipated to see how she would address Taiwan's relations with China, especially after Beijing made moves in recent months intended to pressure her to accept the "1992 consensus."

The Taiwan Affairs Office under China's State Council described Tsai's speech on Friday as an "incomplete test paper," and Huang said he had "no comment" on the statement.

When told that Tsai's remarks on cross-strait affairs have been interpreted by some as indirect recognition of the "1992 consensus," Huang said there was no need to "over-extend" the president's remarks.

Tsai said Friday that "in 1992, the two institutions representing each side across the Strait, through communication and negotiations, arrived at various joint acknowledgments and understandings."

"It was done in a spirit of mutual understanding and a political attitude of seeking common ground while setting aside differences. I respect this historical fact," she said.

The "1992 consensus" refers to a tacit understanding between Taipei and Beijing on a formula for relations between the two sides that would allow dialogue between them -- that there is only one China, with each side free to interpret what "one China" means.

Huang said the "various joint acknowledgments" mentioned in Tsai's speech referred to the acknowledgment that "the two sides can in fact hold a dialogue, let go of the burden of history and engage with each other."

It is also the acknowledgment that "even if there was a fundamental difference between the two sides in the past, we can sit down and talk," he said.

The president and her Democratic Progressive Party are willing to let go of the burden of history, and she hoped China could also do so and hold a dialogue with Taiwan, Huang said.

(By Sophia Yeh and Christie Chen)
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