Central government official Dun Shixin, director of the Department of Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Related to Taiwan of the State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office, yesterday urged young people in Macau to participate in exchanges with Taiwan, with the aim of promoting the successful implementation of the One Country, Two Systems principle in Macau.
Dun made the remarks during a seminar about the relationship between the mainland and Taiwan and the central government’s policies on Taiwan. The one-day seminar, which took place at the Macau Science Centre yesterday, was organised by the Macau Region China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification.
About 100 civic leaders and scholars attended the seminar.
Dun said that the administration of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP),which took office in Taiwan in May last year, has undermined the political foundations of the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations by refusing to endorse the 1992 Consensus.
According to Xinhua, 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 Hong Kong in 1992.
Dun said that the DPP administration’s stance has adversely impacted the good momentum of the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations which lasted for eight years – during Ma Ying-jeou’s Kuomintang (KMT) administration between 2008 and 2016. He said that the fruitful results brought about by the peaceful development have vanished during the current administration in Taiwan, adding the result is a situation that people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and people in Hong Kong and Macau do not want to see.
Dun also said that the relationship between Macau and Taiwan is a special part of the cross-Strait relations. He said that maintaining and developing people-to-people exchanges between Macau and Taiwan is conducive to showing that Macau is a role model for the successful implementation of the One Country, Two Systems principle, adding that it also helps to strengthen Macau’s role as a bridge between the mainland and Taiwan.
Dun said he hopes that more Macau young people will take part in exchange activities with Taiwan, to help people in Taiwan understand the successful implementation of the One Country, Two Systems principle in Macau.
Dun Shixin, director of the Department of Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Related to Taiwan of the State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO), delivers a speech at the Macau Science Centre yesterday. Photo: Tony Wong
