1992 consensus and mutual trust should be further strengthened: analyst
Xi Jinping, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), is scheduled to meet the chairman of Taiwan's ruling Kuomintang (KMT) Chu Li-luan on Monday in Beijing.
The meeting with Xi in Beijing will be the highlight of his first visit to the mainland in his official capacity as Kuomintang leader.
Chu arrived in Shanghai on Saturday and led a delegation to the 10th Cross-Strait Economic, Trade and Culture Forum in Shanghai.
Speaking at the forum on Sunday as part of his two-day visit to the mainland, Chu Li-luan said the two sides across the Straits should "seek common ground while respecting differences" and maintain a stable path for the peaceful development of cross-Straits relations.
The annual forum in Shanghai was co-hosted by KMT Vice Chairman Huang Min-hui and Zhang Zhijun, head of the Taiwan Affairs Office under China's State Council. Chu flew to Beijing on Sunday afternoon to attend a banquet hosted by Guo Jinlong, secretary of the CPC's Beijing Municipal Committee.
Taiwan's New Party President Yok Mu-ming said Chu should initiate a new peace accord for cross-Straits development with Xi.
Taiwan observers, however, believe the meeting between Xi and Chu will be focused on strengthening the existing 1992 consensus, rather than coming up with new initiatives.
"Since the landmark 2005 meeting between Lien Chan [then KMT chairman] and the then CPC leader Hu Jintao, the KMT has been a driving force for the healthy development of cross-Straits relations.
Now with Chu being the new KMT chief, both the mainland and Taiwan sides should work to further strengthen mutual trust," Xu Shiquan, vice chairman of the Beijing-based National Society of Taiwan Studies, told the Global Times on Sunday.
Chu replaced Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou as KMT chairman in January after KMT's landslide defeat in the regional elections in the island in November 2014.
The Democratic Progressive Party has indicated that it will not be bound by the 1992 consensus.
Hu Benliang, an associate research fellow at the Institute of Taiwan Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Sunday that after the Sunflower movement in March when hundreds of students protested against a service trade pact with the mainland showed a portion of the Taiwan people shares this sentiment.
Hu said it's unlikely for new policy proposals to be raised. Instead, he believes the mainland side will take this occasion to reaffirm the CPC's stand on cross-Straits relations.
Also on Sunday, top political advisor Yu Zhengsheng said the two sides should discuss ways for the island to participate in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
