Beijing, Taipei need peace deal before reunification, Taiwanese scholar says

A formal peace deal between Beijing and Taipei should be signed to build trust before discussions on post-reunification political arrangements, a prominent Taiwanese political scientist has argued at a security conference in Beijing.Chang Ya-chung, who heads the Taiwan-based Sun Yat-sen School advocacy group, said the “one country, two systems” formula, which has been applied to Hong Kong and Macau, had so far failed to resonate in Taiwanese society.“If reunification means that one side, with greater power, puts forward a proposal and the relatively weaker side simply decides whether to accept it, it is only natural for people in Taiwan to have concerns,” Chang said on the sidelines of the Xiangshan Forum, Beijing’s leading security platform.“one country, two systems is an arrangement after peaceful reunification. But people in Taiwan may care more about how the two sides can move from their current hostility towards peace before reunification. That is the more important issue,” Chang separately told a panel discussion during the forum on Wednesday.Chang Ya-chung (second from right), head of the Sun Yat-sen School, warned during a panel discussion at the Beijing Xiangshan Forum on Wednesday that cross-strait conflict could erupt “with just a single thought”. Photo: Amber WangThe remarks were made amid renewed discussion on potential political arrangements after any future reunification among scholars on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.Last week, Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office welcomed a proposal by a Taiwanese scholar on detailed arrangements for Taiwan after reunification, saying it was pleased to see more people on the island discussing the scenario and offering suggestions.Chang told the South China Morning Post that this reaction showed Beijing was “thinking about how to make post-reunification arrangements more concrete and comprehensive”, but such proposals had not generated a comparable level of public interest in Taiwan.The framework has been deeply unpopular on the island, with polls conducted in August by Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council indicating that more than 80 per cent of Taiwanese reject one country, two systems.