China wants to wipe out Republic of China with '1992 consensus': MAC

ROC Central News Agency

2018/12/24 23:34:21

Taipei, Dec. 24 (CNA) The "1992 consensus" China wants Taiwan to adhere to does not acknowledge that the two sides can interpret the meaning of "one China" based on their own definition but is meant to wipe out the Republic of China (Taiwan), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) warned Monday in a statement.

The MAC issued the statement following recent media reporting polls showing more acceptance among Taiwanese of the "1992 consensus" and partly attributing that to popular Kaohsiung Mayor-elect Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) winning over voters by publicly stating his support for the consensus.

A Chinese-language China Times report Monday said it found in a poll Want Want China Times Media Group conducted recently that over 60 percent of people in Taiwan agreed to developing relations with China under the "1992 consensus."

The MAC questioned the validity of the results because of problems with the way the poll was designed. Because of the flaws, it said, 30 percent to 50 percent of respondents misunderstood the "1992 consensus" as acknowledging different countries on each side of the Taiwan Strait.

It therefore showed that the people of Taiwan have differences in their "understandings" of the consensus, the MAC said.

The so-called "one China Principle" maintained by China does not allow the existence of the Republic of China (Taiwan's official name) in the "1992 consensus," and it is meant to degrade Taiwan, the MAC said.

The MAC urged the public to take into account the security interests of the country as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is using the consensus to deny the sovereignty of the Republic of China.

According to the Kuomintang, which came up with the term to describe the results of a semi-official meeting in 1992 between Taiwan and China, the consensus refers to a tacit understanding that both sides agree they belong to one China but are free to interpret what that means.

Under that interpretation, Beijing could see it as the People's Republic of China while Taipei could see it as the Republic of China.

The MAC said the government cannot accept that the CCP has distorted the historical facts of the 1992 cross-strait talks into a "1992 consensus" and imposed it on Taiwan, saying it does not allow each side to interpret the meaning of "one China" as it wishes and does not acknowledge the existence of the Republic of China.

Cross-strait affairs that involve legal matters should be handled by the central government and parties it authorizes in accordance with the law, in order to truly protect the dignity of the country and the well-being of the people, the MAC said.

(By Miao Zhong-han and William Yen)
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