TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Wu Feng-shan (吳豐山), chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF, 海基會), Taiwan's semi-official body handling cross-strait relations, announced his resignation on Thursday (Dec. 18), effective Dec. 31. Wu revealed he had privately suggested a meeting with Zhang Zhi-jun (張志軍), president of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS, 海協會), China's counterpart organization, to clarify controversies surrounding the "1992 Consensus" (九二共識), a disputed framework for cross-strait dialogue.
President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) consulted Wu last Friday about personnel decisions at SEF. Wu agreed to step down, paving the way for new leadership. Wu found the ARATS deemed it unnecessary to clarify the 1992 Consensus, instead suggesting a new consensus he could not achieve. Wu explained the 1992 Consensus evolved from "one China with respective interpretations" to "one country, two systems", unilaterally changed by China in 2019, a concept publicly rejected by Taiwan's major political parties.
Wu highlighted SEF's role since its inception in 1991, handling over 9 million cross-strait issues, with 304,224 cases managed last year alone. Wu emphasized cross-strait dialogue ceased in May 2016 due to dissatisfaction from China over Taiwan's non-recognition of the 1992 Consensus, a term coined in 2000. Wu will leave office on Dec. 31 after serving only 14 months of his term at SEF.
