The "1992 Consensus", on the "one-China" principle and its respective verbal
wording of both sides, was reached in a meeting in November 1992 held in Hong
Kong by the Association for Relations Across Taiwan Straits (ARATS) of the
mainland, headed by Wang Daohan, and the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) of
Taiwan, led by Koo Chen-fu. The consensus is that "both sides of the (Taiwan)
Straits adhere to the 'one-China' principle" and orally explain the principle
respectively.
As exchanges in trade, economy and other fields across the Taiwan Strait have
kept increasing since late 1987, the Taiwan authorities adjusted its policy of
"no contact, no concession and no negotiation" and set up SEF to contact and
negotiate with the Chinese mainland over problems occurred. The Chinese mainland
agreed to hold negotiations by setting up ARATS in December 1991 to promote
exchanges across the Straits.
At the start of negotiations about affairs concerning both sides of the
Taiwan Straits, ARATS put forward that it was necessary to persist in the
"one-China" principle in negotiations and agreements, though the political
content may not be discussed as long as the "one-China" stand is advocated, and
the ways to express "one-China" could be fully discussed.
The "national reunification committee" in Taiwan also reached aconclusion
about the content of "one-China" in August 1992.
From Oct. 28 to 30, 1992, the ARATS and SEF held negotiations over the use of
notarized documents across the Strait in Hong Kong,and each side proposed five
definitions about the ways to express the issue of adherence to the "one-China"
principle, but failed to reach a consensus.
SEF representative soon suggested that both sides could state their stands
orally and added three other oral expressions, and ARATS were asked to take down
the verbal expressions about the "one-China" stand tabled by the SEF.
On Nov. 3, SEF informed ARATS of the oral expression about "one-China" it
tabled being approved by the relevant leading departmentin Taiwan. ARATS agreed
to the SEF's suggestion of stating the "one-China" attitude based on their
respective oral explanations ina letter sent to the SEF on Nov. 16, but
emphasizing both sides of the Straits persist in the "one-China" principle and
work had to pursue reunification, without talking about the political meaning of
one China in negotiations of affairs concerning both sides of the Straits. The
SEF showed no disagreement in its letter of replyto ARATS on Dec. 3.
A Summary of the Wang-Koo Talks published by the SEF in August 1993 stated
that the consensus reached by ARATS and SEF were quite clear: both sides had
worked hard to seek common points while reserving differences in explaining the
political content of one China.
