The Taiwan Presidential Office criticized the Kuomintang (KMT) for becoming a political tool that sells out sovereignty during the Xi-Zheng meeting.
According to comprehensive Taiwanese media reports, Presidential Office spokesperson Kolas Yotaka (Guo Yahui) stated on the evening of the 10th that during the Xi-Zheng meeting, the KMT failed to uphold its party entity and Taiwan’s stance, instead allowing Mainland China to use the "1992 Consensus"—with "both sides of the Strait belonging to one China" at its core—as the shared political basis of the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party. She further stated that the KMT has echoed Beijing’s narrative by mischaracterizing the international community’s concern and support for peace in the Taiwan Strait as "external interference," thereby becoming a "political tool for selling out national sovereignty" that seeks to eliminate the "Republic of China" and unify Taiwan.
Kolas Yotaka said that the Presidential Office deeply regrets such disqualified and self-denigrating behavior.
She pointed out that when Cheng Li-wen met with Xi Jinping, she said that the KMT and the Communist Party share the “1992 Consensus” and opposition to Taiwan independence as political foundations, and described the Taiwan Strait as not subject to external interference. Cheng also said that the Mainland’s “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” is the “common rejuvenation of people on both sides of the Strait,” among other remarks.
Kolas Yotaka stated that this highlights the true nature of the Xi-Zheng meeting: Chinese Communist Party leaders, by meeting with KMT leaders, are pulling Taiwan off the world stage and placing it into the “one China” framework—that both sides belong to one China—thus locking it into Mainland China’s political agenda of “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” (the centennial goal of national construction). More specifically, the aim of the Xi-Zheng meeting is to emphasize that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China, and to push the “two systems solution for Taiwan” that claims to be peaceful unification in name, but is in actuality annexation.
"The Taiwan Strait Is Not a Nationalist Inland Sea"
Kolas Yotaka emphasized that the Taiwan Strait is not a nationalist inland sea, but a free passageway for the prosperity of the world. The future of Taiwan can only be decided by the people of Taiwan themselves. Taiwan is willing to work side by side with all countries who love freedom and democracy, in order to jointly promote the peace, happiness, and prosperity of the region: “We cannot and will not serve the nationalism of authoritarian rulers.”
She said that the “1992 Consensus” as defined by Beijing means one China and one country, two systems—something Taiwan will never accept, and the will of the people of Taiwan firmly rejects. This political party interaction, locked as it is into Mainland China’s “unification” agenda and one China political framework, will not affect the assertion of the sovereign status of the “Republic of China Taiwan,” nor will it shake the commitment that the future of Taiwan must be decided by Taiwan’s 23 million people.