Beijing said Wednesday that the Republic of China government does not exist. At a press briefing, Taiwan Affairs Office Spokesman Ma Xiaoguang said that when the KMT lost the Chinese Civil War in 1949, its R.O.C. government lost the legal right to represent the people of China and therefore ceased to exist. In response, KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang said that denying the existence of the R.O.C. was detrimental to cross-strait development.

In an update to a Hong Kong elementary school textbook, “the R.O.C. government” was removed from a description of the 1949 retreat to Taiwan. Now the textbook says the KMT retreated to Taiwan.

Ma Xiaoguang
Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman
In 1949 the Kuomintang regime lost the civil war it launched against the people and retreated to the island of Taiwan, thus losing its status as the legal government representing the whole of China.

The spokesman said the R.O.C. government has not existed since 1949. To date, this is one of Beijing’s most direct repudiations of the R.O.C.

Journalist
The Constitution of the Republic of China is still being implemented to this day. What is your view on that?

Ma Xiaoguang
Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman
If you look at the current consensus of the international community and the resolutions of the United Nations, you will see that my statement is correct.

Johnny Chiang
KMT chairman
It is not the international consensus to deny the existence of the R.O.C. We still have diplomatic relations with 15 countries. Any proposal that eliminates or denies the R.O.C.’s existence would not be conducive to future cross-strait development.

Just days earlier, the KMT’s chairman had proposed the “1992 Consensus Plus,” a cross-strait policy based on the R.O.C. Constitution. But with Beijing rejecting the R.O.C.’s existence, it would appear that a consensus is far from reached.

Johnny Chiang
KMT chairman
On both sides of the strait, it is a fact that each side does not recognize the other’s sovereignty. That fact is precisely why the original “1992 Consensus” came about.

Tsai Shih-ying
DPP lawmaker
A so-called consensus is not a consensus unless both sides agree. To this day the KMT is living in an imaginary world, where the definition of the “1992 Consensus” allows for two interpretations of China.

The lawmaker said the KMT should face up to the reality that is China’s stance. Even if the KMT clings to “one China, two interpretations,” only one interpretation is possible in the eyes of Beijing, he said.