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After the KMT-CCP leaders’ meeting, KMT Chairperson Zheng Liwen held a press conference at Beijing’s China World Hotel, attracting a large number of local and foreign media. At times, she would flip through her notes before answering questions.
Zheng Liwen, previously a famous Taiwanese TV commentator and having served as KMT spokesperson and director of the Cultural Communication Committee, spoke with intonation and emotion, sometimes passionately and with expressions, instantly bringing a "Taiwanese flavor" to the scene.
The press conference lasted around 40 minutes, during which Zheng Liwen answered eight questions from cross-strait media, Hong Kong media, and US media.
Although most of the time appeared to be off-the-cuff, when responding to politically sensitive questions involving the “1992 Consensus” or “one China, respective interpretations”, Zheng Liwen skillfully avoided direct answers. She would open the notes beside her, relaying statements by CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping from the closed-door meeting or luncheon on the related topics, laughing at her ability to find the quoted section in her densely written notes.
Within Taiwan, there is considerable attention on whether the KMT leader visiting the mainland would mention “one China, respective interpretations” in front of CCP leaders.
When asked by Taiwanese media whether she had mentioned “one China, respective interpretations” to Xi Jinping, Zheng Liwen did not answer directly, only saying that she restated the content of the 1992 Consensus.
She flipped through her notes and quoted Xi Jinping as saying that because she had mentioned the Koo-Wang Talks at Yangshan Port in Shanghai, Xi Jinping responded that the talks at that time made the content of the 1992 Consensus very clear: “Unless your mind is very dark, unless you deliberately pretend to be confused, otherwise you should definitely know the real content of the 1992 Consensus. Therefore, there is no need to maliciously distort it, and even less should you maliciously undermine the reconciliation and peaceful development of cross-strait relations.”
An NBC reporter asked whether, after meeting Xi Jinping, she believed cross-strait peaceful unification was a shared goal of both sides.
Zheng Liwen once again opened her notes and quoted Xi Jinping as saying, “Social systems and political stances can be different, but our common ancestors and national bloodline cannot be severed. Differences in social systems should not be used as an excuse for division,” expressing that the CCP leader had shown significant goodwill.
She also believes that both sides should pragmatically face their differences while appreciating each other's achievements, “taking things one at a time, and moving forward steadily step by step.”