Guidelines for National Unification

The Guidelines for National Unification (Chinese: 國家統一綱領; pinyin: Guójiā Tǒngyī Gānglǐng), or the National Unification Guidelines (NUG), were written by the National Unification Council, an advisory body of the Republic of China government, regarding the reunification of China. The National Unification Guidelines were adopted by the Executive Yuan Council on February 23, 1991. The guidelines have a three-step process for the gradual unification of mainland China and Taiwan.

The National Unification Guidelines endorses the One China principle before any other statements: "Both the mainland and Taiwan are parts of Chinese territory. Helping to bring about national unification should be the common responsibility of all Chinese people." However, the document emphasized that unification must "first respect the rights and interests of the people in the Taiwan area, and protect their security and welfare". A more radical earlier draft emphasized the "will", rather than the "rights", of the people in Taiwan, but this wording was changed at the insistence of ROC premier Hao Bocun. The guidelines envisioned three stages that must be reached before planning unification:

The NUG's demands that the PRC renounce the use of force, grant ROC political equality to itself, and let the ROC participate in international organizations, while offering little from Taiwan in return, sharply contradicted the unification proposals from mainland China. Additionally, the requirement for a "free, democratic" China to even consider unification precluded negotiations with the Communist Party of China currently in power on the mainland. In practice, the unrealistic goals for unification set by the NUG furthered the goals of Taiwanization of the ROC and the One Country on Each Side political culture in Taiwan. Nonetheless, in diplomatic terms the affirmation of the One China principle on the Taiwan side made the 1992 Consensus and the Wang-Koo Talks possible.

...
Wikipedia