MAC slams '1992 Consensus' push after CCP, KMT top figures meet in Beijing

Taipei/Beijing, Feb. 4 (CNA) Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) denounced the "1992 Consensus" as a framework aimed at annexing Taiwan, following a political meeting between China's fourth-ranking official Wang Huning (王滬寧) and Kuomintang (KMT) Vice Chairman Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) in Beijing on Wednesday.

In a statement issued late Wednesday afternoon, the MAC -- Taiwan's top government agency handling cross-Taiwan Strait affairs -- said Beijing's "one-China principle" or the "1992 Consensus" is fundamentally aimed at "eliminating the Republic of China (ROC) and annexing Taiwan, leaving no room for the ROC's existence."

MAC said that public opinion in Taiwan has "firmly rejected" that position, referring to the "1992 Consensus," which the KMT has consistently interpreted as an acknowledgment by both sides of the Taiwan Strait that there is only "one China," with each side free to interpret what "China" means.

However, Beijing has never publicly endorsed the KMT's interpretation, and continues to insist that Taipei's acceptance of the "1992 Consensus" is a prerequisite for dialogue between the two governments.

Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government has never acknowledged the "1992 Consensus," arguing that Beijing allows no room for the interpretation of "China" as the ROC, and that acceptance of the consensus would imply agreement with China's claim over Taiwan.

MAC's statement came hours after Wang, the fourth-ranking member of the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) Politburo Standing Committee and chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, met with Hsiao.

Wang said during the meeting that China is willing to strengthen exchanges with Taiwan's political parties and civil groups on the basis of the "1992 Consensus" and opposition to Taiwan independence.

Wang's comments echoed those of Song Tao (宋濤), director of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, during the "KMT-CCP think tank forum" on Tuesday, during which the Chinese official called for "insistence on the 1992 Consensus [and] opposition to Taiwan independence to ensure the correct direction of cross-strait relations."

The forum was seen in Taiwan as paving the way for a possible meeting between KMT Chairperson Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) and Chinese leader Xi Jinping (習近平).

Hsiao, head of the 40-member KMT-led delegation to take part in the forum, said the then-KMT government and the Chinese government reached an understanding in 1992, under which "each side verbally stated that both sides of the Taiwan Strait adhere to the one-China principle."

He added that the 1992 Consensus was the shared political basis for continued cross-strait exchanges.