Cross-Strait Relations at a Crossroad: Impasse or Breakthrough?

Abstract

EDITOR'S NOTEThe 1992 Consensus on “one China with different interpretations” is an artful and ambiguous formulation that has served both Beijing and Taipei as the basis for stability in the Taiwan Strait ever since Ying-jeou Ma became Taiwan's President in 2008.Ma unveiled this concept in the early 2000s. At a time when he was Mayor of Taipei, he travelled six thousand miles across the Pacific to be present at an NCAFP trilateral conference on Cross-Strait relations where he unveiled the concept.During subsequent years in NCAFP conferences with China and Taiwan and trips to both sides of the Strait, the concept of basing dialogue on the “'92 Consensus” was regularly discussed in depth by all three parties. The formula had picked up growing support in China and Taiwan, albeit with different nuanced interpretations, by the time of Ma's inauguration as Taiwan President in 2008. It became the basis for Cross-Strait dialogues and negotiations that have produced dramatic progress in economic and cultural ties ...