The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said Thursday that the proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China is purely an economic issue that has nothing to do with politics. MAC Vice Chairman Liu Te-shun made the comment following China's Taiwan Affairs Office Director Wang Yi's mention of the so-called '1992 Consensus' at a cross- Taiwan Strait entrepreneurs summit in the Chinese city of Nanjing. Addressing the opening ceremony of the summit earlier that day, Wang said that both China and Taiwan should continue to consolidate a key political foundation of opposing Taiwan's independence and supporting the '1992 Consensus' -- which will serve as a sustainable and reliable political guarantee for developing economic cooperation between the two sides. Liu responded at a press conference that there has been nothing -- either in ECFA discussions or within the content of the ECFA -- related to any political appeal. Liu said that it's understandable that Chinese officials need to make statements in line with their political positions, but added that as both sides have their own political viewpoints and directions, he also hopes that China can show empathy toward Taiwan. The '1992 Consensus' refers to an understanding the ruling Kuomintang claims was reached in Hong Kong in 1992 between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait that there is only one China, but with both sides free to make their own interpretations of what 'one China' actually means. 