Beijing responded almost immediately to Chen's speech. While expressing dissatisfaction at his avoidance of the "one China" issue, they also stated that it might be possible to re-start cross-strait negotiations if Taiwan were willing to return to the one China formula adopted during talks in 1992, when it was agreed that each side could maintain its own interpretation of what "one China" means.
中共在極短的時間內也回應了陳水扁的演說，對陳水扁迴避「一個中國」問題表示不滿，但也提到若兩岸回到一九九二年各自以口頭表述「一個中國」的共識，將可再啟談判大門。