Beijing threatens to suspend talks with Taipei until Tsai Ing-wen acknowledges ‘1992 consensus’

Beijing has threatened to suspend regular talks with Taipei as it steps up pressure on Taiwan’s new government to acknowledge the “1992 consensus”.

“Only by confirming adherence to the common political foundation of the 1992 consensus that embodies the one-China principle can cross-strait affairs authorities continue regular communication,” Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman of the State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO), said on Saturday. The warning came after the TAO on Friday called Tsai’s speech an “incomplete test answer”.

Beijing expresses dissatisfaction after Taiwan’s new President Tsai Ing-wen swaps ‘consensus’ for ‘historic fact’

Meanwhile, Beijing’s semi-official intermediary for discussing cross-strait relations, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), said that if Tsai wanted negotiations with its Taiwanese counterpart, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) to continue, Taiwanese authorities needed to endorse the SEF to declare adherence to the 1992 consensus.

Beijing has repeatedly insisted that Taipei abide by the consensus if it is to continue interactions with the mainland.

In her inauguration speech, closely watched by Beijing and political observers around the world, Tsai, sworn in as the island’s first female president on Friday, avoided mentioning the word “consensus”.

Instead, she said she respected the “historic fact” that a meeting took place in 1992, during which Taiwan and the mainland sought common ground and tried to set aside differences.