A Warning from the Obama-Xi Paris Conference

Published in Want Daily
(Taiwan) on 3 December 2015
by (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Anthony Chantavy. Edited by Helaine Schweitzer.
At the Paris Climate Change Conference, U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping somehow brought the Taiwan issue back to the table. Xi stated, "It is in the common interests of China and the United States to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait … I hope that the U.S. will take concrete actions to support the peaceful development of the cross-strait relations." Obama replied that the U.S. hopes to see stable development in cross-strait relations.

From a broader perspective, this is actually a major three-way dialogue. In the Sept. 25 Obama-Xi meeting, the presidents discussed the Taiwan issue. Obama said that Xi introduced him to a step-by-step concept of "preserving Chinese unity," which also involves Taiwan.

The Ma-Xi meeting between Xi and President Ma Ying-jeou of Taiwan on Oct. 7 was historic. The leaders from China and Taiwan affirmed once more that the 1992 Consensus is the basis of stability in Taiwan; President Xi even used the term "perilous situation" to describe what would happen without the 1992 Consensus. At the Nov. 30 Obama-Xi Paris Conference, Xi demanded "concrete actions from the U.S. side to support the peaceful development of cross-strait relations."

We can see that President Xi has some anxiety about the future of cross-strait relations. However, equally noteworthy is that at the Singapore meeting, Xi vowed to the world to solve the Taiwan issue via the 1992 Consensus. In other words, he set a bottom line for the leeway that Beijing gives Taiwan.

It is as though Xi, after earning President Ma's approval for the 1992 Consensus, hopes to tell this to the U.S. to gain its support.

A well-known U.S. figure discussing Obama's speech on Sept. 25 said that Taiwan also has a responsibility to protect the One-China framework, on which the Three Communiqués and Taiwan Relations Act are built. It looks like this large three-way framework is certainly taking us somewhere.


美國總統歐巴馬和大陸國家主席習近平,日前在巴黎的氣候變遷會 議上,極不尋常的再度提及了台灣問題。習近平說的是「維護台海和 平穩定,符合中美共同利益,希望美方以實際行動,支持兩岸關係和 平發展。」歐巴馬的回應則是,美國「樂見台海兩岸關係保持穩定發 展」。

從一個比較大的格局來看,這其實是一個大的三方對話局面。從今 年的9月25日開始歐習會中,兩人討論了台灣問題;歐巴馬說,習近 平告訴他,在包括台灣問題在內的「保持中國完整統一」(preserv e Chinese Unity),習有一步步(step by step)的概念。

10月7日,在新加坡舉行了歷史性馬習會;兩岸領導人再度肯定了 九二共識是台灣穩定的基礎;習近平並且用了「驚濤駭浪」來形容沒 有九二時的情況。11月30日的巴黎歐習會,習近平更是明白呼籲美方 ,要以「實際行動來支持」台海的穩定。

這其中可以看出,習近平對於兩岸的未來有一份憂慮。但同樣值得 的注意的是,習近平在星國的馬習會上,其實是把處理台灣問題的方 針──九二共識,向全世界做宣示。換言之,這是一種定調,宣示了 北京方面所不可退讓的底線。

習等於在得到馬總統以《中華民國憲法》為基底的九二共識肯定回 應後,再把此一架構告知美方,希望得到美方的支持。

而美方人士在解釋9月25日的歐巴馬講話的說法時,曾說「台灣也 有責任要維護『三報一法』的一中架構」。看來,這一個大的三邊架 構,的確是在往一個方向靠攏。
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