The Chinese mainland's Taiwan affairs chief Zhang Zhijun underlined the importance of the 1992 Consensus for future institutionalized consultations across the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday.
"Without the common political foundation of the 1992 Consensus, political mutual trust and related institutionalized consultation mechanism which are built upon the foundation would collapse," Zhang said while meeting with Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Lin Join-sane.
Zhang, director of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, said cross-Strait consultation is an important way to promote peaceful development of cross-Strait relations and bring better welfare for compatriots on both sides.
The development history and experiences have shown that the common political foundations of the 1992 consensus and opposition to "Taiwan independence" have been crucial for the peaceful development of cross-Strait ties and institutionalized consultations, Zhang said.
The core of the 1992 Consensus is the acknowledgment that the Chinese mainland and Taiwan belong to one and the same China.
"Only by consolidating the common political foundations, can cross-Strait ties advance in the correct direction and consultations make new progress to achieve more to benefit people on both sides," he said.
Mainland and Taiwan negotiators, the mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) President Chen Deming and SEF Chairman Lin Join-sane, inked two agreements concerning cross-Strait flight safety and taxation cooperation during their talks in Fuzhou, capital of southeast China's Fujian Province, on Tuesday.
Founded in 1991 and 1990, respectively, the ARATS and SEF are authorized by the mainland and Taiwan to handle cross-Strait affairs.
Zhang said he hoped the two sides can make joint efforts to bring the agreements into effect at an early date and ensure they are well implemented.
