By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is stepping up its effort to seek internal consensus on its China policy with a series of meetings that include representatives from all levels of society and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) politicians.
A total of nine meetings, which would be expanded meetings of the China Affairs Committee and could also proceed as “debates of some sort,” are scheduled to be held at party headquarters from June 20, committee spokesperson Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said.
The arrangement appeared to be a response to an initiative announced on Thursday by a group of DPP politicians to host a China policy debate.
They said the discussion and formulation of the DPP’s China policy should be more inclusive and not just determined by the nine members of the committee, headed by Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), that is the party’s designated platform on cross-strait policymaking.
Participation and the scope of next month’s meetings would be greater than those of the party’s China policy debate in 1998 because topics such as Chinese students in Taiwan, Chinese spouses and Chinese investment in Taiwan would be included, the Cheng said.
The DPP would even invite former National Security Council secretary-general and KMT lawmaker Su Chi (蘇起), he said.
Su admitted in February 2006 that he made up the phrase “1992 consensus” on cross-strait relations in 2000.
The current KMT government has the so-called consensus as the foundation for its cross-strait negotiations and the KMT has used it as the basis for its engagement with the Chinese Communist Party.
The June 20 meeting is expected to focus on the core values and visions of Taiwan’s China policy, followed by a meeting on the “1992 consensus” in July, Cheng said.
The spokesman said that details of those meetings would be announced at a later date.
The meetings would be held behind closed doors, but reports and summary of the meetings will be released to the public, he said.
“If some party members still think that a debate is necessary after these meetings, the DPP is open on holding such an event,” Cheng said.