Thursday, April 03, 2008
Hopes rise for Taiwan-China dialogue
By Kathrin Hille in Taipei
Wednesday Apr 2 2008, FT
Only two weeks after Ma Ying-jeou won Taiwan's presidential election in a landslide, the first signs are emerging that Taiwan and China are edging towards resuming a dialogue that has been suspended for a decade.
Mr Ma this week lauded a remark by Hu Jintao, China's president, that China and Taiwan should restore talks on the basis of an agreement to disagree on sovereignty issues which allowed the two to launch consultations in 1992. "You cannot deny that there is progress here," Mr Ma said.
In the arcane world of cross-strait diplomacy, nuances in language make a big difference. They are back in the spotlight now that Mr Ma's election has raised hopes of rapprochement in the Taiwan Strait.
As China refuses to recognise the existence of a separate state on Taiwan and the island refuses to renounce its sovereignty, Beijing and Taipei agreed in 1992 to recognise the existence of only one China and differ on its interpretation.
Mr Ma based his optimism this week on the understanding that Mr Hu had actually acknowledged the contents of this "92 consensus", something Beijing has refused to do for the past eight years.
According to George Tsai, one of Taiwan's foremost experts in cross-strait relations, Mr Hu's reported remarks are "a very big step forward". "So far, [Mr Ma's party, the Kuomintang] has always referred to 'one China, with different interpretations', but China preferred 'one China, no interpretation'."
Mr Hu is believed to have made the switch in a phone conversation with President George W. Bush on March 26. According to a US account of the talks, Mr Hu said: "It is China's consistent stand that the Chinese mainland and Taiwan should restore consultation and talks on the basis of 'the 1992 consensus', which sees both sides recognise there is only one China, but agree to differ on its definition."
Chen Shui-bian, Taiwan's incumbent president, argues that since China never publicly recognised the differing interpretations, Taiwan would, by agreeing to the 92 consensus, give up its claim of sovereignty. He has warned that China's official Xinhua News Agency, in its report on the Hu-Bush conversation, omitted the reference to the contents of the "consensus".
But Mr Ma argues that the vagueness of the understanding would allow the two sides to return to the negotiation table. "The whole world deals with this according to 'one China, different interpretations'. We should adopt the same kind of flexibility," he said.
Analysts expect Taipei and Beijing to continue technical talks aimed at opening non-stop weekend charter flights, which ended without results early last year, as soon as Mr Ma takes office in late May.
Higher-level, more wide-ranging dialogue through government-backed foundations, suspended since 1998, would probably resume later this year, Mr Tsai said.
According to Mr Ma, such dialogue would focus on the protection of Taiwanese investment in China, double taxation and access to the Chinese banking market, and eventually result in a Comprehensive Economic Co-operation Agreement. Only after building trust through these trade talks can the two sides move towards more sensitive issues, according to Mr Ma's road map.
Any peace agreement would be years away. All of those "political issues", says an aide to Mr Ma, are "second-term stuff" and "not going to happen before 2012".
Wednesday Apr 2 2008, FT
Only two weeks after Ma Ying-jeou won Taiwan's presidential election in a landslide, the first signs are emerging that Taiwan and China are edging towards resuming a dialogue that has been suspended for a decade.
Mr Ma this week lauded a remark by Hu Jintao, China's president, that China and Taiwan should restore talks on the basis of an agreement to disagree on sovereignty issues which allowed the two to launch consultations in 1992. "You cannot deny that there is progress here," Mr Ma said.
In the arcane world of cross-strait diplomacy, nuances in language make a big difference. They are back in the spotlight now that Mr Ma's election has raised hopes of rapprochement in the Taiwan Strait.
As China refuses to recognise the existence of a separate state on Taiwan and the island refuses to renounce its sovereignty, Beijing and Taipei agreed in 1992 to recognise the existence of only one China and differ on its interpretation.
Mr Ma based his optimism this week on the understanding that Mr Hu had actually acknowledged the contents of this "92 consensus", something Beijing has refused to do for the past eight years.
According to George Tsai, one of Taiwan's foremost experts in cross-strait relations, Mr Hu's reported remarks are "a very big step forward". "So far, [Mr Ma's party, the Kuomintang] has always referred to 'one China, with different interpretations', but China preferred 'one China, no interpretation'."
Mr Hu is believed to have made the switch in a phone conversation with President George W. Bush on March 26. According to a US account of the talks, Mr Hu said: "It is China's consistent stand that the Chinese mainland and Taiwan should restore consultation and talks on the basis of 'the 1992 consensus', which sees both sides recognise there is only one China, but agree to differ on its definition."
Chen Shui-bian, Taiwan's incumbent president, argues that since China never publicly recognised the differing interpretations, Taiwan would, by agreeing to the 92 consensus, give up its claim of sovereignty. He has warned that China's official Xinhua News Agency, in its report on the Hu-Bush conversation, omitted the reference to the contents of the "consensus".
But Mr Ma argues that the vagueness of the understanding would allow the two sides to return to the negotiation table. "The whole world deals with this according to 'one China, different interpretations'. We should adopt the same kind of flexibility," he said.
Analysts expect Taipei and Beijing to continue technical talks aimed at opening non-stop weekend charter flights, which ended without results early last year, as soon as Mr Ma takes office in late May.
Higher-level, more wide-ranging dialogue through government-backed foundations, suspended since 1998, would probably resume later this year, Mr Tsai said.
According to Mr Ma, such dialogue would focus on the protection of Taiwanese investment in China, double taxation and access to the Chinese banking market, and eventually result in a Comprehensive Economic Co-operation Agreement. Only after building trust through these trade talks can the two sides move towards more sensitive issues, according to Mr Ma's road map.
Any peace agreement would be years away. All of those "political issues", says an aide to Mr Ma, are "second-term stuff" and "not going to happen before 2012".
Labels: Taiwan
¶ 12:29 AM
