March 13, 2015
MAC News Release No. 015
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) stated today (March 13, 2015) that, the Republic of China (ROC) is a sovereign and independent country, where the government's Mainland policy is to maintain the "no unification, no independence and no use of force" status quo under the ROC Constitution framework. This is also the mainstream public opinion in Taiwan. In the future, the government will continue to promote peaceful and stable development of cross-strait relations on this foundation.
The MAC stated that, the Mainland announced the Anti-Secession Law in 2005. These actions of stressing to resolve the Taiwan Strait issue through non-peaceful means and unilaterally determining the future for boths sides with the Mainland’s law have ignored realities across the Taiwan Strait and failed to respect the Taiwanese people’s choice.
The MAC pointed out that, in order to meet the demands arising from cross-strait developments, the government already began active preparations 20 some years ago. Preparations included the formulation of the Additional Articles of the ROC Constitution and the establishment of the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area so as to gradually establish a legal basis for the development of institutionalized cross-strait relations and protect the people’s rights and interests on both sides. As for the Mainland's statement to accord with the law in protecting the Taiwanese people’s rights and interests,, we think the Mainland should actively and pragmatically implement institutionalized protections for the personal safety, property rights and other interests of Taiwanese people in the Mainland.
The MAC stressed that, over the past seven years, the government has adhered to the “1992 Consensus” basis of “One China, with respective interpretations” in interacting with the Mainland. Through institutionalized negotiations and deepened exchanges, the government has gradually built up mutual trust and promoted mutual understanding between the two sides. This pragmatic and prudent approach has created favorable conditions for respective development of the two sides. It has also laid a more solid foundation for the long-term and stable development of cross-strait relations. The MAC urged that, in the future, the two sides should cherish and preserve the achievements of cross-strait benign interaction, show mutual goodwill, consolidate mutual trust, and actively promote follow-up negotiation issues to create a greater well-being for people on both sides.