Taipei Times
Date: May 22, 2016
By: Chen Yu-fu / Staff reporter

President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) inaugural address emphasized regional and cross-strait stability, active participation in international trade deals and deepening relationships with democracies such as the US, Japan and European nations, academics said, adding that Tsai was sending a message to Washington and Tokyo, calling on them to take Taiwan more seriously.

Taiwan Association of University Professors secretary-general Hsu Wen-tang (許文堂) — commenting on Tsai not affirming the so-called “1992 consensus” — said there were indeed talks between then-chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation Koo Chen-fu (辜振甫) and then-chairman of China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits Wang Daohan (汪道涵), and that is why Tsai said the cross-strait interaction of the time is a “historical fact.”

However, the term “1992 consensus,” coined by former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) for then-president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) use, is fake, and mostly not accepted by Taiwanese, Hsu said.

“Tsai’s phrasing of the cross-strait relationship [in the speech] was intended to not allow China room to make a fuss,” Hsu said.

The “1992 consensus” refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese government that both sides of the Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.     [FULL  STORY]