Xi Jinping announces readiness for dialogue with Taiwan on reunification

The government of the PRC is ready for dialogue with Taiwan on national reunification based on the "one China" principle and the "1992 Consensus."

This was stated by PRC President Xi Jinping at an event at the Great Hall of the People marking the 160th anniversary of the birth of the first president of the Republic of China, Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925).

"We are ready to conduct dialogue and consultations with sensible representatives of all segments of the Taiwanese public on issues of relations between the two sides [of the Taiwan Strait] and national reunification on the basis of adherence to the 'one China' principle and the '1992 Consensus,'" he said.

The "1992 Consensus" is an agreement reached at a historic semi-official meeting in Hong Kong between representatives of the Communist Party of China and the Kuomintang party, which was ruling Taiwan at the time. The agreement implies recognition that there is only one Chinese state in the world. However, each of the sides has the right to interpret it in its own way: for Beijing it is the PRC, founded on October 1, 1949, following the civil war in China, and for Taipei it is the Republic of China, which existed on the mainland until 1949.

In April 1988, the PRC put forward a course toward peaceful unification with Taiwan based on the principle of "one country, two systems." It was proposed in 1979 by PRC leader Deng Xiaoping and implies at once the inalienability of Taiwan from the territory of the PRC and the right to a high degree of self-government as a special administrative region. However, Taiwan did not accept the PRC's formula. In 1992, the sides agreed to recognize the "one China" principle, reserving the right to different interpretations of this principle (the so-called 1992 Consensus).

Source: TASS