Recognizing Consensus prerequisite for dialogue

The two sides of the Taiwan Strait can resume negotiations as long as the Taiwan authorities recognize the 1992 Consensus embodying the one-China principle, a senior Chinese mainland official said on Friday, as calls are growing for normal exchanges across the Strait.

Song Tao, head of both the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, made the remarks at a symposium in Beijing to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Wang-Koo Talks.

In April 1993, Wang Daohan, then head of the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, and Koo Chen-fu, then chairman of the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation, held a productive meeting in Singapore, establishing institutionalized mechanisms for contact and consultation between the two sides.