Fu-led delegation meets with Chinese official in Beijing

A legislative delegation led by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁) met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧) in Beijing yesterday.

Wang hailed the delegation’s visit at the start of Taiwan’s legislative session as a significant and symbolic gesture, adding that people on both sides of the Strait should engage in more exchanges.

“We are all Chinese and are one family as parts of the Zhonghua minzu [中華民族, Chinese ethnic group],” said Wang, who was accompanied by Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) Director Song Tao (宋濤).

Wang said during the meeting that both sides should uphold the so-called “1992 consensus” and the “one China” principle, adding that both sides should stand against attempts by Taiwanese independence groups to split Taiwan and China apart.

In response, Fu said his visit was a sign of the Taiwanese public’s will to return cross-strait relations to pre-2016 levels of trade and business collaboration.

After the severing of ties over the past eight years, Taiwanese businesses welcomed Chinese “to visit Taiwan, get to know Taiwan and fall in love with Taiwan,” he said.

After the meeting, the TAO held a banquet for Fu and other legislators at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.

Meanwhile, TAO spokesperson Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) announced later yesterday that China is willing to donate prefabricated houses to Hualien County via the Red Cross Associations on both sides of the Strait in hopes of alleviating the damage caused by the April 3 earthquake and its aftershocks.

The “1992 consensus” refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.