‘One China’ is cornerstone of cross-strait trade, China’s premier says

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said Beijing would push for greater trade with Taiwan only when the island’s incoming independence-leaning government recognised the “one China” principle.

“[Beijing] will continuously introduce measures to promote economic cooperation between both sides in consideration of the premise ... that the cornerstone is still the 1992 consensus,” Li said after the close of the National People’s Congress ­on Wednesday. “As long as Taiwan adheres to the [political] foundation and recognises that Taiwan and the mainland belong to the same China, anything can be negotiated .”

The 1992 consensus refers to an unofficial agreement between the mainland and Taiwan that there is “one China” and that each side had its own interpretation of what that meant.

Li stressed cross-strait trade would grow if both sides stuck to the political consensus. Beijing had issued a document guaranteeing that preferential policies for Taiwanese businessmen based on the mainland would be maintained, he said. Li’s remarks closely followed what President Xi Jinping said early this month in his first public comments since the DPP and its chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen swept to power in Taiwan’s January polls.

READ MORE: Chinese President Xi Jinping says Beijing’s policy on Taiwan ‘to remain consistent’ after Tsai Ing-wen takes office

Tsai has been cautious to neither dispute nor embrace the consensus. She said during her campaign that the arrangement was “one option.”