Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/11/01
By: Chen Chia-lun. Feng Chao and S.C. Chang

Taipei, Nov. 1 (CNA) The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) urged Beijing Tuesday to “face the Republic of

China squarely” and “respect mainstream opinion in Taiwan.”

The MAC was responding to Beijing’s insistence on its version of the “one China” principle following a meeting between Communist Party of China General Secretary Xi Jinping (習近平) and opposition Kuomintang Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱).

According to China’s Xinhua news agency, Xi told Hung that the core value of the “1992 consensus” is the “one China” principle, which means both Taiwan and China belong to “one China.”

Any change of government in Taiwan will not change the fundamental fact of the “1992 consensus” or its core meaning, Xi was quoted as saying.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 02, 2016
By: Chen Yu-fu and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer

The sudden announcement on Monday evening by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) that reporters

from three media organizations would be barred from covering Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu’s (洪秀柱) meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Beijing yesterday prompted condemnation from Taiwanese lawmakers across the political spectrum.

The three outlets denied press passes were the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper), online media outlet Up Media and the Taiwan branch office of the Mirror, a Hong Kong-based publication.

New Power Party caucus convener Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said the action highlights the huge difference in press freedoms between Taiwan and China.

“This is censorship of the expression of opinions… When the direction of a news report does not go their way, they just simply cancel it,” Hsu said, calling on Hung to tell Xi that she objects to the decision.    [FULL STORY]

The China Post
Date: November 2, 2016
By: Yuan-Ming Chiao

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Kuomintang (KMT) Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in

Beijing Tuesday, with Hung crediting the “1992 Consensus” with improving cross-strait and interparty relations.

In an interpretation of the consensus not used before by her predecessors, Hung said, “We should strive for the commonalities of the ‘one China’ principle while preserving the differences of meaning within it” (求一中原則之同, 存一中涵義之異).

Her statement came after KMT stalwarts — including former President Ma Ying-jeou — warned her not to de-emphasize the “different interpretations of one China” clause of the “1992 Consensus.”

At the Great Hall of the People, Xi greeted Hung and her delegation, which included KMT Vice Chairmen Steve Chan and Jason Hu.    [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2016/10/24
By: Mo Tz-pin

Another day, another Taiwanese artist barred from performing in China.

A Taiwanese actor has been removed from the cast of a Chinese movie after netizens in China uncovered Facebook posts showing the actor supporting political activism in Taiwan in 2014, and said they would refuse to watch the movie, Taiwan’s state-run Central News Agency reports.

Irene Chen (陳艾琳) was cast by director Chen Lingsi (陳菱思) earlier this month for one of the lead roles in GF Vending Machine (女友販賣機). The film started production on Oct. 15.

The director announced via Weibo, however, that Chen was fired after shooting had started.

The director said the production company will never respect artists who support Taiwan’s independence. She added that the best way to solve the problem was to cancel the actor’s contract and not hire her, nor anyone else who supports “separatism,” in future.    [FULL  STORY]

The organizers removed signage from the Council of Indigenous Peoples’ booth due to disagreement over using the term ‘indigenous peoples.’

The News Lens
Date: 2016/10/21
By: ZiQing Low

Taiwan’s Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP) yesterday withdrew from the 2016 Hangzhou Cultural and

Creative Industry Expo after the CIP’s full name was removed from their exhibit at the expo.

The CIP, along with 10 indigenous cultural industry groups, had planned to attend the expo from Oct. 20-24.

In a press statement released on their website yesterday, the CIP said that the General Chamber of Commerce of the Republic of China conveyed a request from the organizing committee of the expo on Oct. 14 that the CIP change “indigenous peoples” to “minorities” on all their exhibit material.

“We will not allow the usage of ‘indigenous peoples’ regardless of which organization,” the CIP was told.

Despite ongoing negotiations to keep the title with “indigenous peoples,” the organizing committee in China removed the CIP’s sign from their “Ayoi Indigenous Peoples Cultural Booth.”

“To protect the dignity of Taiwan and its indigenous community, representatives from the council will hand in a letter of protest to the organizers of the expo and withdraw our participation,” the CIP said in a statement.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/10/14
By: Chen Cho-fu and Lilian Wu

Kaohsiung, Oct. 14 (CNA) A visiting Chinese delegation said on Friday that the Beijing government will cooperate with the eight cities and counties in Taiwan that recognize the “1992 consensus.”

Sun Wenkai (孫文鍇), leader of the Beijing Entertainment Farming & Agri-Tourism Association, said the Chinese capital is willing to have “deep cooperation ” in tourism and agriculture with the eight cities and counties.

He expressed the hope that agricultural cooperation could begin soon.

Taiwan’s previous Kuomintang (KMT) administration saw “the 1992 consensus” as referring to a tacit agreement between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait that there’s only one China in the world, with both sides free to interpret its meaning.     [FULL  STORY]

JUDICIAL YUAN NOMINEE:The distinction between the ‘Taiwan Area’ and the ‘Mainland Area’ in the ROC Constitution is not legally binding, Hsu Tzong-li said

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 14, 2016
By: Cheng Hung-ta, Jake Chung and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writers and CNA

Cross-strait relations are “special state-to-state relations” akin to the relations between West

and East Germany, former grand justice Hsu Tzong-li (許宗力) yesterday told lawmakers during a review of his nomination to be head of the Judicial Yuan.

Hsu’s comment was in response to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alicia Wang’s (王育敏) question on whether his opinions on cross-strait relations were similar to those of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), citing Hsu’s 1996 article, “How Laws Influenced the Changes in Cross-Strait Relations and the Latest Developments” (兩岸關係法律定為百年來的演變與最新發展) in the The Taiwan Law Review (月旦法學雜誌).

Lee’s “special state-to-state” model of cross-strait relations, announced on July 8, 1999, was aimed at countering China’s description of Taiwan as a “renegade province.”     [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2016/10/11
By: ZiQing Low

‘Both sides should try to avoid military conflict, but that depends on what other ‘radical action’ Tsai

might take,’ the CCP mouthpiece Global Times has warned.

An editorial in the Chinese Communist Party-affiliated Global Times argued today that Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has “lost all chance of avoiding conflict with China” after she avoided recognizing the so-called “1992 consensus” in her National Day Address on Monday.

Beijing insists the “1992 consensus” forms the basis for cross-Strait talks. The consensus, whose very existence has been called into question in Taiwan, includes a “one China” clause with both sides (or so Taipei insists) historically having separate interpretations of what “one China” means.

In her speech during the “Double Ten” National Day celebrations on Monday, President Tsai acknowledged that relations between Taiwan and China had “cooled” recently, but emphasized that her administration would not “bow under pressure (from China) but would also work to avoid conflict.”     [FULL  STORY]

‘No power or individual should underestimate the determination of the over 1.3 billion people on the Mainland,’ China says.

The News Lens
Date: 2016/10/06
By: Olivia Yang

Chinese authorities have reiterated the “one China” principle in response to Taiwan President Tsai Ing-

wen’s (蔡英文) recent interview with the Wall Street Journal.

In the interview, published on Oct. 4, Tsai said she hopes that “Mainland China does not misinterpret or misjudge the current situation, or think that it can make Taiwanese bow to pressure.” The interview came after signs that pressure from Beijing was behind Taiwan’s inability to participate at meetings of international organizations, including the ICAO assembly in Montreal last week, and indications that it may not be invited to join the Interpol summit in Indonesia next month. Among other things, Beijing has turned the crews on the Tsai administration to acknowledge the so-called 1992 consensus, which it has set as a “precondition” for continued dialogue across the Taiwan Strait. Beijing has vowed to further isolate Taiwan if President Tsai does not give in.

“The pledges we have made in the past remain unchanged,” Tsai said. “Our goodwill is unchanged. But we will not succumb to pressure from China.”     [FULL  STORY]