Taiwan’s former president Ma Ying-jeou touts ‘one China’ success in speech to HK awards
Taiwan’s former president Ma Ying-jeou underscored the importance of the “1992 consensus” in improving cross-strait ties in a speech delivered to Hong Kong publishers on Wednesday night.
“Cross strait relations have improved more in the past eight years than during any period since 1949,” Ma said in his pre-recorded video address to the awards dinner for the Society of Publishers in Asia.
“And the foundation of that change is the 1992 consensus, which is one China, [with] respective interpretations.”
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The former president had hoped to attend the event in person, but his request to visit Hong Kong was rejected by Taiwan’s Presidential Office, which cited security concerns and lack of time to prepare.
Ma said the “1992 consensus” was the foundation for the success of cross-strait ties during his eight years in office, and listed off achievements: 23 signed agreements, an increase in flights from none to 890, a 14-fold rise in the number of mainland tourists travelling to Taiwan, and a 50-fold increase in the number of mainland students enrolled on the island.
The consensus refers to an understanding reached between Beijing and Taipei in 1992 that there is only “one China” but each side can have its own interpretation of what that stands for.
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Ma’s successor Tsai Ing-wen, of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party, has refused to explicitly recognise the consensus, and avoided mentioning it in her inauguration speech last month.
Ma said the consensus was reaffirmed during his landmark meeting with his mainland counterpart Xi Jinping in Singapore in November.
“I sincerely hope that the new administration will have the required wisdom and courage to maintain the peaceful and prosperous status quo my administration has worked so hard to create in the last eight years,” he said.
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Ma also pointed to the “deep historic relationship” between Hong Kong and Taiwan, as well as their increasing cultural exchanges in recent years. “Taiwan and Hong Kong have long shared the core values of freedom, democracy, human rights, and rule of law, and especially freedom of expression. In the future, I hope we can work together, hand-in-hand, to safeguard these core values and continue to contribute to cross-strait and regional peace and prosperity,” he said.
Ma expressed regret for not being able to deliver his speech in person, calling the reason for his absence “quite curious”.
“The new administration in Taiwan … considers that my trip to Hong Kong might cause some national security problems. Those problems include possible leakage of state secrets and inadequate protection of my personal safety,” he said. “Well, I didn’t know that Hong Kong was such a dangerous place.”
