Taiwan's new leader Tsai Ing-wen should acknowledge the 1992 Consensus as soon as possible for the sake of the Taiwan people, a mainland scholar urged on Monday.
The 1992 Consensus, which states that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one and the same China, is a common understanding reached between the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) from the mainland and the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) from Taiwan after talks in 1992.
In her inauguration speech on Friday, Tsai did not clarify her stance on the one China principle through her ambiguous remarks on the 1992 Consensus.
Tsai has moved a step backward compared with her predecessor, Ma Ying-jeou, who accepted and overtly supported the 1992 Consensus, said Liu Xiangping, head of the Institute of Taiwan Studies at Nanjing University, in a signed article published by Xinhua.
During Ma's tenure over the past eight years, the two sides moved toward peaceful development and achieved progress in various aspects based on the common understanding, he wrote.
With this common political foundation, ARATS and SEF have held 11 meetings and signed 23 agreements since 2008, and cross-Strait affairs authorities from the two sides established a regular communication mechanism. Cross-Strait relations climaxed when Xi Jinping and Ma Ying-jeou met in 2015 for the first time.
"The fruits of peaceful development should be cherished, the interests of people from both sides should not be damaged and Taiwan's future cannot be guided into darkness," Liu wrote.
The 1992 Consensus is the cornerstone and the "main switch" for the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations, he said.
It is a must-answer question for Tsai on whether or not to acknowledge the 1992 Consensus, which the new Taiwan leader can never avoid.
It is hoped that Tsai will act according to the people's interests and deliver a satisfying answer as soon as possible, according to Liu.
Time really cannot wait, he said.
