Mutual non-recognition of sovereignty and mutual non-denial of authority to govern

[4] Ma defines the relations as a "special relationship for which the model of [state] recognition under conventional international law is not applicable".

[6][10][11] In an interview with the Central News Agency on 25 October 2008, Ma Ying-jeou clarified that conceptualising Taiwan and mainland China as "two areas" was not his invention, but believed the framework offered a way for the two sides of the Taiwan Strait to sidestep sovereignty questions in pursuing closer ties as long as each side did not deny the other's existence.

According to Ma, the "two areas" concept could be dated back to 1991, when then-President Lee Teng-hui announced the termination of the Period of National Mobilisation for Suppression of the Communist Rebellion to acknowledge the fact that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are under separate rule.

These include the special state-to-state relations proposed by Lee in 1999, and the one country on each side theory raised by then President Chen Shui-bian in 2002, Ma noted.

[12][13] In the runup to the 2024 presidential election, the Kuomintang candidate Hou Yu-ih reiterated this mutual non-denial framework in the context of the 1992 Consensus, in an interview with the Japanese public broadcaster NHK in August 2023.