Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

While the US presidential and congressional elections loom on the horizon, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has just finished its Sixth Plenum of the 18th Party Congress. This plenum has left many with the feeling that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) primarily used it to consolidate his control of the party and its direction.

Certainly party discipline has been a salient issue, and one that is closely tied to Xi’s anti-corruption campaign. However, since Xi has held off naming any successor, loyalty to him looms even more prominently as a concern above any party ideology.

The so-called “1992 consensus” has set off an internecine battle in the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the focus of which is whether there is such a thing as “one China, with each side having its own interpretation” of what that “China” means. The “1992 consensus” was made up out of thin air and its only purpose has been to deceive Taiwanese. Throughout his eight years in office, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) used it in his dealings with Beijing, which was happy to play along and use the empty slogan to promote its version of “one China.”