A senior Taiwanese envoy raised eyebrows on the mainland yesterday when he used the island’s official name during a landmark ceremonial visit to Sun Yat-sen’s resting place.
Wang Yu-chi, the head of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, used the phrase Republic of China at the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing, where Beijing and Taipei government officials are holding their first official talks in six decades.
“The Republic of China, the first democratic republic in Asia established by Dr Sun Yat-sen, has existed for 103 years,” Wang said in brief remarks before officials from Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office, Taiwanese journalists and a huge group of mainland tourists.
The statement seemed to contradict Beijing’s official line that the People’s Republic of China – founded by the Communist Party in 1949 as Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan – is the one true China. The party maintains Taiwan is a breakaway province, not a republic, as “103 years” would appear to suggest.
Watch: China and Taiwan hold historic talks
Wang went on to say that he believed Sun would be gratified to know that his “three principles of the people” – nationalism, democracy and the welfare of people – were now being practised in Taiwan. Sun is revered on both sides of the Taiwan Strait for his role in the 1911 revolution and the founding of modern China.
The deputy director of the Taiwan Affairs Office, Ma Xiaoguang, sidestepped any controversy, saying it was a known fact that Sun led the revolution that overthrew the imperial regime 103 years ago.
via Taiwanese official says aloud formal title of Taiwan during Nanjing visit | South China Morning Post.
Seealso: https://chindia-alert.org/2014/02/14/china-dashes-taiwans-hope-of-meeting-between-leaders-at-apec-reuters/
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