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Qian's 7 Measures Evoke Hail and Worry on Taiwan Island
On the morning of July 12, Chinese Vice-Premier Qian Qichen, in Zhongnanhai (seat of Chinese Party and government), met with the Taiwan New Party "Mainland Affairs Council" Delegation. According to media reports, after talks began, Qian Qichen indicated that in developing cross-Strait relations, the Chinese mainland advocates upholding the "one, two, three" principle, i.e., "one China, negotiations between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits, and starting the 'three exchanges' (exchange of mail, trade and air and shipping services) as soon as possible". Qian Qichen added that while concretely implementing the "one country, two systems" policy, the mainland will allow Taiwan to have more autonomy than Hong Kong and Macao. Reports say that when Wang Chien-hsuan, member of the New Party Delegation, expressed the hope that the mainland could concretely explain the contents of the "one country, two systems", Qian listed seven measures to illustrate the matter. Overseas public opinions, particularly Taiwan's public opinions, pay great attention to these seven measures, thinking that superficially, this is a passage of quite concise language, but actually it contains the mainland's concrete ideas concerning Taiwan after reunification. That part in boldface is about Qian's seven measures quoted by the media, and the latter part is media's analysis.
ARTICLE 1 "Taiwan continues to use Taiwanese currency". Analysis says this indicates that future Taiwan can still independently issue its currency, the mainland will not interfere in Taiwan's financial and monetary policies.
ARTICLE 2 "Taiwan continues to retain its armed forces". Analysis maintains this implies that future Taiwan will still have very large autonomy in defense, and the mainland will not send armed forces to Taiwan. This is the power not vested in Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions' governments, demonstrating that Taiwan will have greater autonomy than Hong Kong and Macao.
ARTICLE 3 "Taiwan is an independent tariff zone". Analysis holds this indicates after the two sides of the Straits are reunified, Taiwan will still retain its status as an independent tariff zone, its status and role in the World Trade Organization and other similar organizations will not be affected.
ARTICLE 4 "Taiwan continues to keep the frame of government". Analysis says this shows the mainland will not intervene in Taiwan's current political system (except for violation of the one-China principle), the various kinds of election in the region of Taiwan will still be held as usual.
ARTICLES 5 and 6 respectively are "the mainland will not take a single fen of Taiwan money, nor will it transfer Taiwan's funds", and "Taiwan people and entrepreneurs continue to keep their original property". In the analysis opinion, this indicates that the various assets of Taiwan, including deposited foreign exchange, will not be affected because of reunification, some Taiwan people's doubts and misgivings about "money that would be taken away by the mainland" are unnecessary worries.
The final ARTICLE Taiwan will have "autonomy over personnel affairs, the mainland will not send any officials to Taiwan". Analysis maintains this shows that after the "one country, two systems" principle is realized in Taiwan, the saying that "the mainland will send senior officials to Taiwan for the take-over" is merely rumor, the mainland will fully respect Taiwan's autonomy.
In the opinion of analysts, it can be summed up this way: so long as Taiwan acknowledges that both sides of the Straits belong to "one country", the mainland is very open in regard to "two systems". It will grant Taiwan a high degree of autonomy, perhaps no district within any country will have enjoyed such autonomy in so broad a scope. In fact, previously the mainland had, through various channels, explained the contents of the "one country, two systems" concept, but analysts have pointed out that this is the first time that the concrete contents about the "one country, two systems" concept to be applied in Taiwan was explained specially by such a high-ranking official as vice-premier, that's why it has aroused the widespread concern of overseas media.
Dialogs Between the Taiwan Work Office of the CPC Central Committee and Taiwan's New Party
Many people know that the New Party is one of the main political parties in Taiwan. In fact, the New Party was born out of the secondary group of the Kuomintang, the ligature of the new Kuomintang. In August 1989, Chao Shaokang, Li Sheng-feng and other new generation figures of the Kuomintang declared the establishment of a new non-mainstream organization for being dissatisfied with the "Taiwan independence" activities carried out by Lee Teng-hui and his dictatorship exercised within the Kuomintang. By August 1993, the "ligature" formally declared the formation of the "New Party" and registered as a political party with Taiwan's "ministry of the interior". As soon as it was set up, the New Party posed itself as "a spokesman for the common people", giving people the sense that everything was fresh and new. It clearly pointed out that the party's objective was to pursue "national unification, political democracy, and an affluent life for the people". Because the New Party advocates the one-China principle and insists that China must be reunified, so it is welcomed by the Chinese mainland. Since the two sides are identical in the general orientation for reunification, the New Party has repeatedly organized delegations to visit the mainland, the mainland delegations to Taiwan also have met the New Party many times.
There is another reason explaining why the New Party's visit to the mainland this time has aroused media's concerns, that is, previously, when the mainland official institution in charge of Taiwan affairs invited Taiwan political organizations to come for visit, it was done in the name of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, but this time, the New Party Delegation was invited to come for visit in the name of the Taiwan Work Office of the CPC Central Committee. Therefore, before the New Party Delegation arrived in Beijing, the media had focused their attention on the meeting, calling it the first cross-Strait "Party-to-Party "meeting.
At 4:00 p.m. on July 10, the Taiwan New Party "Mainland Affairs Council" Delegation arrived in Beijing. When members of the delegation Hsu Li-nung, Wang Chien-hsuan, Yu Mu-ming and others stepped into the hall of the airport, reporters who had been waiting there for quite a while swarmed forward, presenting a very lively scene. Hsu Li-nung, head of the New Party Delegation and chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council, said loudly to the reporters at the airport that the New Party upholds the one-China principle, its present visit aimed mainly to exchange views with the CPC Central Committee's Taiwan Work Office on matters concerning cross-Strait relations. Sun Yafu, assistant to the director of the Taiwan Work Office, who was at the airport to greet the delegation also said smilingly, "things concerning concrete cross-Strait affairs are to be handled mainly by the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, but this time, the Taiwan Work Office of the CPC Central Committee will hold talks with the New Party, it can be said that it is a useful attempt".. The two persons' statements received a round of applause from the reporters on the spot.
In a friendly, harmonious atmosphere, the New Party Delegation held dialogs with the Taiwan Work Office of the CPC Central Committee the second day and the two sides reached a six-point consensus. The consensus includes: the two sides commonly recognize and advocate "one China, peaceful reunification", in order to seek improvement of cross-Strait relations and wellbeing of compatriots on both sides of the Straits, the two sides will strive to push the restoration of cross-Strait contact and dialogs on the basis of the "1992 Consensus", and promote cross-Strait economic and trade relations, contacts between personnel and various exchanges and an early realization of direct "three links" (links in the aspects of mail, trade and transportation); it is the view of both sides that compatriots on both sides of the Straits are all Chinese, the 23 million Taiwan people, whether they are natives of Taiwan Province or of other provinces, are of fresh and blood, brothers and sisters, they should care for one another and live together in peace, jointly boost Taiwan's social stability and economic development. The New Party Delegation indicated that the New Party "Mainland Affairs Council" would establish a special agency to keep mutual contacts with the related bodies of the Taiwan Work Office of the CPC Central Committee.
Chen Shuibian Tries Hard to Defame the New Party
Reports say that the Taiwan Work Office of the CPC Central Committee has indicated that "the Communist Party of China wishes to conduct dialogs with the New Party and is, of course, willing to conduct dialogs with the Kuomintang, the People First Party and the Island's other political parties which recognize the one-China principle." Because the Democratic Progress Party (DPP) thus far has not abandoned its "Taiwan independence" Party program and the DPP authorities have so far not acknowledged the "1992 Consensus", so it is impossible for the CPC to conduct talks with a political party which pursues "Taiwan independence", refuses to accept the one-China principle. According to the analysis of sensitive Taiwanese media, the Chinese mainland regards "Party-to-Party" consultations as the channel for future cross-Strait links, but it clearly rules out the possibility of contacts with the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, demonstrating that the stage at which the mainland adopts the attitude, known as "listen to their words and watch their deeds" toward the Taiwan authorities, has been basically over". If the Taiwan authorities refuse to accept the one-China principle, "it is not only impossible to resume consultation between the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), nor is it possible for the CPC to conduct Party-to-Part contacts with the DPP.
It is reported that after the "Party-to-Party dialog mechanism" was established between the New Party and the mainland, Taiwan leader Chen Shuibian was worried other opposition parties would follow the "New Party model" and use it to replace the functions of the ARATS and SEF, and thus make his mainland policy more passive, therefore he has tried his utmost to vilify the New Party. On July 12, while attending the "three services joint graduation ceremony", Chen Shuibian declared that exchanges between political parties across the Taiwan Straits is "political united front work", clamoring that "political united front work and armed invasion are the common enemies of the entire people". Tsai Yingwen, chairman of the "mainland affairs council of the Administrative Yuan", first hypocritically said the authorities "did not oppose exchanges of opinions between political parties", adding that "there will be differences even between opinions of the ruling party and the policies of the government, such being the case, the various parties should understand the roles they play". The implication of her remarks is that the New Party is not a political party in power, so there is greater difference between its policies and those of the authorities, and so it is all the more unqualified to act the role of conducting "party-to-party" talks.
Most of the media on Taiwan Island hold affirmative opinions about the New Party going to the mainland to conduct "Party-to-Party" talks with the CPC. United Daily of Taiwan pointed out, "Party-to-Party consultations will be the channel for future links between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits". If the DPP authorities cling to their obstinate stand, they will be bogged down in Quagmire.
This article was written by correspondent Zhang Bochen of the newspaper Global Times
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