Hope continues for positive development in cross-Straits ties

Cross-Straits relations may be affected after the island's new leader takes office in May, Li Yihu, head of Peking University's Taiwan Institute and a deputy to the National People's Congress, said on Wednesday.

Li said decades of peaceful development of cross-Straits relations have been based on the mutual acknowledgment of the 1992 Consensus, which says both Taiwan and the mainland are part of one China.

"If the political foundation was shaken, of course relations would be affected," he said at a news conference on cross-Straits relations organized by the State Council Information Office.

Li expects Tsai Ing-wen, chairwoman of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, who won the island's leadership election in January, to clearly show her stand on the 1992 consensus when she takes office on May 20.

"If Tsai and her government keep avoiding defining their position on this issue, and playing with words, it will not be any good for people in Taiwan," Li said.

Citing the momentous meeting between Xi Jinping and Ma Ying-jeou in November, Li said cross-Straits relations have greatly improved in past decades, but without acknowledging the 1992 Consensus the possibility of Xi meeting the island's new leader is "very limited".

Xi said on Saturday that the 1992 Consensus explicitly defines the nature of the cross-Straits relationship and is crucial to the stable and long-term development of cross-Straits ties.

The president's words confirmed again the authority's determination to safeguard China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, Zheng Jianbang, vice-chairman of the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Committee of Chinese Kuomintang, said at the conference.

"Cross-Straits relations have encountered a turning point. Which way to go is essential for the island's future. I hope the new leadership can make the right choice for the benefit of the Taiwan people," said Zheng, adding that the mainland will uphold its policies toward Taiwan, maintaining the peaceful development of cross-Straits relations no matter how the political situation on the island changes.