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Nov 4, 2011

*Family Feud buzzer*

President Ma had a funny recollection while praising the '92 consensus:
Ma recalled that Harding had a meeting with former President Chen Shui-bian during a visit he made to Taiwan 11 years ago, at which time Chen said he would accept the "1992 consensus" if Beijing would also accept it.
Twenty-four hours later, however, then-Mainland Affairs Council Minister Tsai Ing-wen denied that Chen's statement represented government policy, Ma said. 

Tsai is now the opposition Democratic Progressive Party's chairwoman and presidential candidate.

According to Ma, Tsai's continued denial of the existence of the "1992 consensus" could upset the stability of cross-strait relations in the future if she is elected.
It's such a funny recollection because it's clearly false. Chinese articles on Ma's speech say Ma said the press release about this is still on the Presidential website. So let's go find it!

If you do a search for Harry Harding's name (何漢理) we get a few hits, and sure enough one of them is from 11 years ago (or even in that time range). And in that press release, we see exactly what Ma is talking about:
President Chen expressed that the new government was willing to accept the consensus previously reached between the SEF and ARATS, which is "One China, two interpretations," but that the mainland side won't acknowledge this, instead only mentioning their "One China" policy, which considers the Republic of China [Taiwan] to be a part of the People's Republic of China. The view that "One China" means "The People's Republic of China" is a viewpoint that the people of Taiwan cannot accept, and as a result it is not possible to reopen the door to negotiations, which actually is very disappointing. We hope to restart negotiations as quickly as possible, to find commonalities in our differences, and to find a definition of "One China" that both sides can accept.We have no predetermined position, and [seek] no predetermined conclusion. We are willing to shake hands & sit down to talk with the Chinese Communist leader Jiang Zemin in a situation with a flexible format, location and topics.
總統進一步表示,新政府願意接受海基、海協兩會之前會談的共識,那就是「一個中國、各自表述」,但是大陸方面卻不承認,而另外提出「一個中國」政策,認 為中華民國是中華人民共和國的一部分,所謂的「一個中國」就是中華人民共和國,這種觀點是台灣人民無法接受的,如此也導致無法重新啟開協商大門,實在令人 遺憾。我們希望儘速恢復協商,存異求同,並就「一個中國」的內容,找出雙方都可接受的涵義。我們沒有預設立場,也沒有預設結論,願意在不拘形式、地點與議 題的情況下,與中共領導人江澤民先生坐下來,握手言談。
I'm sure you can see the issue here. Because we've been through this many times before. The "92 consensus Ma defines as "One China, two interpretations" doesn't exist.  There is no mutual non-denial. The PRC flatly denies 'two interpretations.' See for yourself.  As I said back then after reading this People's Daily article:
China objects strongly to any "two interpretations" phrasing, saying that although the political content of 'One China' could be ignored, there simply was no "two interpretations" to the consensus in that November 1992 agreement (既然没有讨论,根本就没有什么“各自表述”的共识。).
Hopefully, Ma's mention of the press release on the Presidential website will help spur people with fuzzier understandings on this topic to look it up and see how he's flat out lying. I'm not so sure Ma's comments can withstand a full assault.

1 comment:

skiingkow said...

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(Sigh!)

Repeat after me...

One China, 2 interpretations is NOT a consensus, by definition.

One China, 2 interpretations is NOT a consensus, by definition.

One China, 2 interpretations is NOT a consensus, by definition.


Great catch, though, A-gu!

Except, I don't know why the DPP insists on the "He said, she said" approach. It only makes the issue more muddled to the voters.
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