Beijing's top negotiator Chen Deming stresses unbroken line in relations with Taiwan
Mainland negotiator says 22-year-old principle still at the core of Beijing's policy with Taipei
The mainland's top negotiator with Taiwan underscored the need for continued progress in cross-strait links, including economic ties, in the face of fierce global competition, as he started an eight-day visit to the island yesterday.
"Under the 1992 consensus, the two sides have been able to develop peacefully and cooperate economically," Chen Deming , head of the semi-official Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, said in Taipei.
Analysts said Chen's comments indicated that Beijing would not alter the basic tone of its cross-strait policy, with the 1992 consensus as its underlying principle, despite the ruling Kuomintang's rout in the island's local elections late last month.
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The consensus was reached between Taiwan and the mainland in Hong Kong 22 years ago and states that there is only "one China", but each can have its own interpretation of what that China stands for, allowing the two sides to temporarily set aside political differences to carry on with talks.
Chen, who is leading a delegation of business leaders, is the first mainland official to visit Taiwan since the local elections in which the KMT lost nine of the cities and counties it held, including three key municipalities.