1992 Consensus
| 1992 Consensus | |||||||||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 九二共識 | ||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 九二共识 | ||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Nine-Two Consensus | ||||||||||||||||
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The 1992 Consensus is a political term referring to the alleged outcome of a meeting in 1992 between the semi-official representatives of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-led People's Republic of China (PRC) in mainland China and the Kuomintang (KMT)-led Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan. The consensus is often credited with establishing a diplomatic foundation for semi-official cross-strait exchanges beginning in the early 1990s and is a precondition set by the PRC for engaging in cross-strait dialogue.
Whether the meetings truly resulted in a consensus is disputed within the ROC. The KMT understanding of the consensus is "one China, different interpretations" (一中各表, 一個中國各自表述), i.e. that the ROC and PRC "agree" that there is One China, but disagree about what "China" means (i.e. ROC vs. PRC). The PRC's position is that there is one China (including Taiwan), of which PRC is the sole legitimate representative of China. This discrepancy has been criticized by Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) who has been the ruling party since 2016. The DPP has never acknowledged the existence of the 1992 Consensus ever achieved by the semi-official meetings, and also rejects any claim that both sides of the Taiwan Strait are "One China".
Despite political divisions in Taiwan, the Constitution of the Republic of China still reflects the original Kuomintang-era position that both Taiwan and mainland China are part of one China under the ROC. This constitutional framework has not been formally amended and stands in contrast to the Democratic Progressive Party’s Taiwan-centered policy, which regards Taiwan and the mainland as separate entities.
Critics argue that the term “1992 Consensus” was not actually used at the time of the 1992 meeting. Instead, it was coined later, in April 2000 by Su Chi, a former National Security Council secretary-general - eight years after the meeting took place. Former President of ROC Lee Teng-hui, a Kuomintang (KMT) leader during his 1988–2000 term, expressed skepticism about the 1992 Consensus in 2006. Later, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) President Tsai Ing-wen, who served from 2016 to 2024, criticized the consensus in a January 2019 speech, associating it with the PRC’s "one country, two systems" framework.