November 8, 2012
No. 095
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) stated that the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) convened today (November 8, 2012) will establish future guiding ideology and policy direction of the CPC, as well as complete transfer of power to the Party's fifth-generation core leadership. The ROC government has taken notice of content in the report presented today by the Mainland leader on policies related to future promotion of economic, social, political reform, defense, and diplomatic work. The MAC conveyed hope of the Taiwan side that, future promotion of internal and external reforms on the Mainland side will have positive and active influence on its systematic developments and also on the improvement of the rights and well-being of the people.
Regarding content related to the development of cross-strait relations in the report, the MAC emphasized that the government adheres to the principle of maintaining the cross-strait status quo of "no unification, no independence, and no use of force" under the framework of the ROC Constitution and promoting peaceful and stable development across the Taiwan Strait based on the foundation of the “1992 Consensus of one China with respective interpretations.” This not only represents the mainstream public opinion in Taiwan, but is also in the best interests of developing cross-strait relations at this stage.
The MAC stated that maintaining peaceful and stable development of cross-strait relations corresponds to the mutual interests of the two sides, and peace in the Taiwan Strait must be maintained by both sides. Over the past more than four years, cross-strait relations have made substantial progress on this foundation, including the signing of 18 agreements and two consensuses, each of which has helped lay the foundation for peace in the Taiwan Strait. The two sides should therefore deeply cherish these hard-won achievements. It is hoped that, in the future, both sides will continue to uphold the principle of "shelving disputes and jointly creating a win-win outcome," pragmatically promote peaceful, mutually beneficial, and co-prosperous cross-strait relations, continue to deepen mutual trust, show mutual goodwill, and persist with joint efforts for peaceful and stable development in the Strait and happiness of the people on both sides.
The MAC reiterated that, in the future, the government will continue under the framework of the ROC Constitution to adhere to the cross-strait status quo of "no unification, no independence and no use of force", uphold the principle "putting Taiwan first for the benefit of the people", persist in its defense of Taiwan's identity and public interests, and sequentially promote cross-strait exchanges, dialogue and negotiations under the premise of effective risk control. Cross-strait negotiations will prioritize issues conducive to national development and beneficial to the livelihood and well-being of the people with the principle of handling "easy issues before difficult ones, urgent matters before non-urgent ones, and economic matters before political ones" in mind. Under the framework of the ROC Constitution and with the 23million Taiwanese people’s voices at heart, the government will continue to promote institutionalized negotiations in order to seek peaceful, stable, mutually beneficial, and win-win cross-strait relations.