Kuomintang Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun, speaking in Kinmen, called on President Lai to accept the 1992 Consensus in exchange for an easing of cross-strait tensions, drawing a sharp rebuttal from government officials, with no sign of movement in the cross-strait deadlock.

• Speaking at an event marking the 68th anniversary of the August 23 Artillery Battle, Cheng said that if the president were to accept the 1992 Consensus on the basis of the Constitution of the Republic of China, the two sides could immediately resume contact and lower tensions.
• Government officials retorted that this was an absurd proposition, since the 1992 Consensus is defined by the Chinese Communist Party and its content amounts solely to unification, leaving no room for the survival of the Republic of China.
• Officials asked in return why Cheng did not first call on Xi Jinping to recognise the Republic of China, and criticised her for speaking on Beijing's behalf at an event commemorating the defence of Taiwan's territory.
• The government's position remains unchanged: it will safeguard the sovereignty of the Republic of China and its free and democratic constitutional order, and cannot accept the 1992 Consensus.

Outlook: The divide between the Blue and Green camps over the 1992 Consensus will only deepen, and substantive cross-strait dialogue is unlikely in the near term.