Ye Jianying?s Nine Principles for the Peaceful Reunification with Taiwan (1981)

??On September 30,1981,Ye Jinying, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, in an interview with journalists of the Xinhua News Agency, elaborated nine principles concerning Taiwan?s return to the motherland and the realization of peaceful reunification. These are later called? Ye?s nine principles?, Which can be summarized into the following:

(1) The negotiation between the Communist Party of China and the Kuomintang should be held on a reciprocal basis to initiate the third cooperation between the two parties.

(2) Direst air and shipping service, mail and trade links should be established. (This is later called the Three Links) The residents of both sides should be allowed to visit their relatives and travel across the Straits. Academic, Cultural and sports exchanges should be promoted.

(3) After the nation is reunified, Taiwan, as a special administrative region, will enjoy a high level of autonomy. The army on the island dan is sustained. The social and economic systems it Taiwan, the people?s way of life and the region?s economic and cultural ties with foreign countries will also remain unchanged. Private property, house, land, ownership of enterprises, legal right of inheritance and foreign investment will not be violated.

(4) After reunification, the Taiwan authorities and representatives from various circles of the island can take leading positions in national political institutions and participate in state administration.


??Ye?s nine principles further developed the CCP and the Chinese government?s Taiwan policy in the new era. On January 11,1982, Deng Xiaoping pointed out in his talk that the nine principles put forward by Te Jianying, Could actually be summed up as a policy of ?One country, two systems?. This was the first time that Deng Xiaoping presented this concept.


??In December 1982, the fifth session of the fifth National People?s Congress passed the Constitution of the People?s Republic of China, article 31 of which stipulates that the country can set up a special administrative region if necessary and the systems adopted in this region can be decided by the National People?s Congress in the form of law according to the actual situations. To ?set up a special administrative region? in this article actually refers to carrying out the policy of ?One country, two systems?. This shows that ?One country, two systems? has been written into the Constitution and it has legal guarantee.