Because Taiwan and China had reached a consensus on negotiating terms for direct charter flights during the Lunar New Year holiday, technical problems would be ironed out with further talks, the Cabinet said yesterday.
"I believe that practical negotiations over direct charter flights for Lunar New Year will bear fruit, and that both sides will eventually hammer out a mutually acceptable solution," Cabinet Spokesman Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said.
"Our stance on the matter is clear, and that's mutual respect and practical negotiations," he said.
The Mainland Affairs Council has organized for the Taipei Airlines Association (TAA) to represent the government in negotiations with Beijing.
Because the China Civil Aviation Association had sent a letter to the head of the TAA inviting him to discuss details of any agreement, Chen said he felt that Beijing would not use the status of the negotiators to oppose the flights.
Chen was speaking yesterday morning after China demanded that government officials be banned from attending the talks between aviation authorities.
This year, one of the TAA board members is Billy Chang (
When asked to describe the status of this year's TAA negotiators, Chen said they were "entrusted by the government to act as representatives in negotiating the matter."
Unchanged
Chen also affirmed the government's principles for negotiation and said that they were still in force.
"We adopted the `two-way, multiple-destination and non-stop' principles for charter flights for the Lunar New Year holiday in November, and this has remained in place unchanged since then," he said.
"Basically, what the Chinese government proposes is similar to what we have initiated. Even if there are differences, both sides should sit down and talk about them," he said.
China has ruled out the participation of Taiwan's cross-strait officials in negotiating direct flights, saying both sides' airlines could settle on the precise details themselves.
Beijing's Taiwan Affairs Office yesterday held a press conference explaining its position.
"It is inappropriate for officials from Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council and the Straits Exchange Foundation to join negotiations," said He Shizhong (
Rejecting Taiwan's appeal for official negotiations, He said the request was "unrealistic."
But He did not indicate that officials from other government agencies would be prevented from joining negotiations.
Model
The Mainland Affairs Council has insisted that talks be based on the negotiating model for an aviation agreement between Taiwan and Hong Kong in 2002, in which the TAA headed a delegation composed of aviation leaders, council officials and Civil Aeronautics Administration personnel acting as advisors.
Asked by reporters whether Billy Chang could join the negotiations as an advisor, He said, "we can communicate on this," without elaborating.
He said that these direct flights had nothing to do with any previous air-transportation agreements.
"The flights are a special arrangement made to facilitate trips home for the large number of China-based Taiwanese businessmen and compatriots for the Lunar New Year," he said.
The airlines could communicate on technical problems and details of the flights without government involvement, he said.
"This is the most efficient and practical way of preparing for the implementation of the flights," He said.
Pu Zhaozhou (浦照洲), an official with the China Civil Aviation Association, said it would be easier for the airlines to discuss the exact details between themselves.
"There would be no comments from laymen cropping up during negotiations," Pu added.
Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Xiamen are proposed departure points for the flights, He said, and urged Taiwan to open airports in Taipei, Kaohsiung and Taichung to receive them.
CLASH OF WORDS: While China’s foreign minister insisted the US play a constructive role with China, Rubio stressed Washington’s commitment to its allies in the region The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday affirmed and welcomed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio statements expressing the US’ “serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan” and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, in a telephone call with his Chinese counterpart. The ministry in a news release yesterday also said that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had stated many fallacies about Taiwan in the call. “We solemnly emphasize again that our country and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and it has been an objective fact for a long time, as well as
‘CHARM OFFENSIVE’: Beijing has been sending senior Chinese officials to Okinawa as part of efforts to influence public opinion against the US, the ‘Telegraph’ reported Beijing is believed to be sowing divisions in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture to better facilitate an invasion of Taiwan, British newspaper the Telegraph reported on Saturday. Less than 750km from Taiwan, Okinawa hosts nearly 30,000 US troops who would likely “play a pivotal role should Beijing order the invasion of Taiwan,” it wrote. To prevent US intervention in an invasion, China is carrying out a “silent invasion” of Okinawa by stoking the flames of discontent among locals toward the US presence in the prefecture, it said. Beijing is also allegedly funding separatists in the region, including Chosuke Yara, the head of the Ryukyu Independence
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY: Taiwan must capitalize on the shock waves DeepSeek has sent through US markets to show it is a tech partner of Washington, a researcher said China’s reported breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI) would prompt the US to seek a stronger alliance with Taiwan and Japan to secure its technological superiority, a Taiwanese researcher said yesterday. The launch of low-cost AI model DeepSeek (深度求索) on Monday sent US tech stocks tumbling, with chipmaker Nvidia Corp losing 16 percent of its value and the NASDAQ falling 612.46 points, or 3.07 percent, to close at 19,341.84 points. On the same day, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Sector index dropped 488.7 points, or 9.15 percent, to close at 4,853.24 points. The launch of the Chinese chatbot proves that a competitor can
‘VERY SHALLOW’: The center of Saturday’s quake in Tainan’s Dongshan District hit at a depth of 7.7km, while yesterday’s in Nansai was at a depth of 8.1km, the CWA said Two magnitude 5.7 earthquakes that struck on Saturday night and yesterday morning were aftershocks triggered by a magnitude 6.4 quake on Tuesday last week, a seismologist said, adding that the epicenters of the aftershocks are moving westward. Saturday and yesterday’s earthquakes occurred as people were preparing for the Lunar New Year holiday this week. As of 10am yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) recorded 110 aftershocks from last week’s main earthquake, including six magnitude 5 to 6 quakes and 32 magnitude 4 to 5 tremors. Seventy-one of the earthquakes were smaller than magnitude 4. Thirty-one of the aftershocks were felt nationwide, while 79
RSS