President-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) announced yesterday the appointment of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice President Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) as the chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), while downplaying China’s inclusion of the term “one China” in a post-Boao Forum press release.
Ma also confirmed the appointment of Soochow University president Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) as premier, but refused to reveal any other future Cabinet members.
“The SEF will be at the frontline of the push for better cross-strait relations. It will be playing an important role in the future,” Ma said yesterday during a press conference with Hong Kong journalists at KMT headquarters.
Pressed by local media later to expand on his appointments, the president-elect declined to make further comments and said he would respect Liu’s right to form the Cabinet and announce its members.
Ma and vice president-elect Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), who returned from the Boao Forum in China on Sunday, met Hong Kong and local journalists yesterday at two separate gatherings to discuss issues concerning the forum.
They downplayed China’s inclusion of the term “one China” in a Boao Forum press release issued on Sunday, while pledging to handle cross-strait relations with caution.
After a roundtable meeting hosted by Siew on Sunday, Taiwanese journalists received a press release issued by China that said representatives from Taiwan and China had agreed to establish a negotiating mechanism under the “one China” principle.
Describing the incident as unfortunate, Siew said he had been surprised when he had heard the news about the statement, but gave credit to Beijing for immediately recalling the press release.
“Cross-strait relations remain shaky and both sides are still in the adjustment stage. We will handle cross-strait relations cautiously,” Siew said.
Ma and Siew expressed optimism on the impact on cross-strait relations of the Boao Forum and promised to improve relations steadily and with caution.
“My participation at Boao was an ice-breaking trip, but I don’t want the iceberg to melt too fast and turn into a flood.,” Siew said.
Siew said he took advantage of the forum to promote his economic policies, including 12 domestic construction projects.
Siew said Chinese Minister of Commerce Chen Deming (陳德銘) vowed to encourage Chinese companies to invest in the projects, then reiterated his vow that no Chinese laborers would be allowed to work in Taiwan.
“Chinese investment will be seen as foreign investment,” he said.
Ma said there was no timetable for cross-strait negotiations, but added that the time was ripe for relations to improve.
The SEF and China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) will serve as the communication channels for future cross-strait issues, Ma said.
On his plans to visit other nations before his inauguration on May 20, Ma said he had expressed his willingness to visit the US and Japan as a way to show his goodwill toward those countries.
“My purpose is to explain Taiwan’s cross-strait policies to our foreign friends and promise them that we will be a peacemaker, not a troublemaker, in the region,” Ma said.
Siew dismissed President Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) criticism over the treatment he received during the forum and denied a Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) report that he paid US$250,000 to attend the forum.
Siew said his Cross-Strait Common Market Foundation had paid the money, which was a membership fee that would be refunded should the foundation decide to withdraw from the forum.
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