TAIPEI -- Taiwan's leader Ma Ying-jeou said on Thursday the current status of cross-Strait relations could not have been achieved without the 1992 Consensus.
During an address at the opening ceremony for an exhibition on cross-Strait interaction since 1949, Ma said the "one country on each side" approach of his predecessor, Chen Shui-bian, had led to tension, confrontation, stagnation and even retrogression of cross-Strait ties.
No cross-Strait negotiations were carried out in the eight years of Chen's tenure from May 2000 to May 2008, Ma said.
The core of the 1992 Consensus is the acknowledgment that the Chinese mainland and Taiwan belong to one and the same China.
Ma said, as a candidate for the 2016 Taiwan leadership election, Taiwan opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chair Tsai Ing-wen has the duty to clarify what vision she has and how she will maintain it.
"Is it the status quo of peaceful development of cross-Strait ties in the past seven years, or the confrontations seven years ago?" Ma asked.
Tsai said at a meeting last month that the DPP handled the cross-Strait relationship under the basic principle of maintaining a situation characterized by peace and stability.
Ma urged people in Taiwan to cherish the progress of cross-Strait ties and to do not deviate from this path.
Relations between the mainland and Taiwan stalled when the Kuomintang (KMT) forces, led by Chiang Kai-shek, fled to Taiwan in 1949 after civil war. Cross-Strait ties have improved since KMT chairman Ma Ying-jeou won Taiwan's leadership election in 2008, with dozens of agreements of cooperation signed.
