TAIWAN TRAVEL ACT: Chen Ming-tong said that it was too soon to tell how China would react to a US official’s visit, as several multilayered incidents are likely to follow
Taipei Times
Date: Mar 22, 2018
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter
Newly inaugurated Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) yesterday
Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chen Ming-tong yesterday answers questions about the annual twin-city forum between Taipei and Shanghai at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. Photo: CNA
urged the public to stop fixating on the so-called “1992 consensus,” saying that cross-strait issues should be dealt with through laws.
At his first question-and-answer session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei during a meeting of the Internal Administration Committee, Chen, who took office on Monday, was pressed by several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers about his stance on the “1992 consensus.”
Due to the refusal of President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration to acknowledge the “1992 consensus,” cross-strait exchanges have come to a standstill, leaving “staff at the council and the [semi-official] Straits Exchange Foundation with almost nothing to do,” KMT Legislator Sra Kacaw said.
Asked by Sra Kacaw how he intended to further cross-strait ties without embracing the “1992 consensus,” Chen said: “The content of the ‘1992 consensus’ has been debated in Taiwanese society. The public and I are perfectly aware of the KMT’s support for the concept of ‘one China, different interpretations,’ but there are also people who do not believe it exists.” [FULL STORY]
