KMT-CCP Forum likely to be postponed to February

Taipei, Jan. 24 (CNA) A member of Taiwan's main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) said on Saturday that the KMT-CCP Forum is likely to be postponed to February, repurposed as "interactions between think tanks," and limited to non-political discussions.

Local media reported in early January that the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) were set to resume the Cross-Strait Economic, Trade and Culture Forum, also known as the KMT-CCP Forum, in Beijing from next Tuesday to Thursday, ending a nine-year suspension, though the KMT has never officially confirmed such a meeting.

Speaking anonymously with CNA on Saturday, the KMT member familiar with the matter said the forum will not take place in January and is likely to be postponed to early February.

It remains unclear whether KMT Chairperson Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) will attend the meeting in person.

According to the member, the forum will focus on AI, disaster prevention, and sustainable industry development, among other issues, to reduce political sensitivities.

The member also noted that, as the first KMT-CCP forum under Cheng's leadership, it will set its tone on "interactions between think tanks," meaning the forum might no longer retain its original name.

Participants will be mostly drawn from industry and academia, with further details to be revealed next week, the member said.

Launched in 2006 after a breakthrough 2005 meeting between then-KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and Chinese leader Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), the KMT-CCP Forum has been held almost every year until 2016, when it was suspended following the KMT's presidential and legislative election defeats in Taiwan.

Cheng told reporters on Tuesday that the KMT should shoulder historical responsibility to ease tensions across the Taiwan Strait, and that she will actively promote cross-strait dialogue.

Commenting on the issue, Peng Qing'en (彭慶恩), a spokesperson for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, said on Wednesday that China would always adhere to the 1992 Consensus, which embodies Beijing's "one China" principle, oppose Taiwan independence, and seek exchanges with people in Taiwan across different fields.

Peng, however, stayed mum on the forum itself, saying he would provide updates if there are "any new developments."

The KMT's plan to revive the political talk has drawn criticism from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which called it an attempt to "test the waters" for a possible meeting between Cheng and Chinese leader Xi Jinping (習近平).

The DPP said the opposition was using the forum to gauge public reaction.