Taiwan and China’s top cross-strait negotiators may meet on Nov. 3 in Taipei, with the schedule expected to be finalized during a preparatory round of talks in China on Monday, Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) announced yesterday.
Chiang told a press conference at the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) office yesterday afternoon that he had proposed Nov. 3 to his Chinese counterpart, Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林).
If all goes well during the meeting with SEF officials in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, on Monday, China will finalize the date and itinerary, Chiang said.
ITINERARY
The SEF chief said that Chen’s itinerary would be simple: Aside from the official meeting and signing of agreements, Chen will visit some of Taiwan’s tourist attractions.
Chiang and Chen met for the first time in June after cross-strait talks were suspended in 1998. During the June meeting, the two sides signed agreements to launch weekend cross-strait charter flights and ease the cap on Chinese tourists visiting Taiwan.
The agenda of the upcoming Chiang-Chen meeting will include expansion of weekend charter flights, direct aviation routes, charter cargo flights, direct sea transport, postal cooperation and establishing a food safety cooperation mechanism.
MAC Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) said yesterday that establishing direct aviation routes would not compromise national security, adding that the Ministry of National Defense fully supports the proposal.
Responding to concerns on how Chen would address President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) during their meeting, Lai said Ma is the president of the Republic of China and no matter what title Chen uses to address Ma, it will not change the fact that Ma is the president of the country.
“The arrangement will be made under the principle of equality and dignity,” she said. “We will follow the arrangements used in the first negotiations held in Beijing.”
When asked by the Taipei Times on former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) suggestion that Taipei reject Chen Yunlin’s visit if Beijing does not support Taiwan having its own interpretation of “one China,” Lai said she did not understand why both sides should refuse to hold talks if the agreements served the public interest.
Saying the resumption of the negotiation channel between the quasi-official SEF and ARATS has the support of the Taiwanese and the international community, Lai said it was important to use the channel to address issues that arise during the course of exchanges between peoples on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
PEACEFUL
“It is bound to help the peaceful and stable development of cross-strait relations,” she said.
Asked to comment on the confrontation between Taiwanese activists and ARATS Vice Chairman Zhang Mingqing (張銘清) in Tainan on Tuesday, Lai said that the administration would make sure that Chen’s visit is “safe, dignified, comfortable.”
“We are confident that he will be well protected,” Lai said, adding that the National Security Bureau and the National Police Agency would cooperate to ensure his safety.
Also See: Chen pans Ma for ‘breaking’ vow
GEARING UP: An invasion would be difficult and would strain China’s forces, but it has conducted large-scale training supporting an invasion scenario, the report said China increased its military pressure on Taiwan last year and took other steps in preparation for a potential invasion, an annual report published by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday showed. “Throughout 2023, Beijing continued to erode longstanding norms in and around Taiwan by employing a range of pressure tactics against Taiwan,” the report said, which is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2024.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force, if perceived as necessary by Beijing, while simultaneously deterring, delaying or denying
PEACEFUL RESOLUTION: A statement issued following a meeting between Australia and Britain reiterated support for Taiwan and opposition to change in the Taiwan Strait Canada should support the peaceful resolution of Taiwan’s destiny according to the will of Taiwanese, Canadian lawmakers said in a resolution marking the second anniversary of that nation’s Indo-Pacific strategy on Monday. The Canadian House of Commons committee on Canada-Chinese relations made the comment as part of 34 recommendations for the new edition of the strategy, adding that Ottawa should back Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, first published in October 2022, emphasized that the region’s security, trade, human rights, democracy and environmental protection would play a crucial role in shaping Canada’s future. The strategy called for Canada to deepen
TECH CONFERENCE: Input from industry and academic experts can contribute to future policymaking across government agencies, President William Lai said Multifunctional service robots could be the next new area in which Taiwan could play a significant role, given its strengths in chip manufacturing and software design, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman and chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. “In the past two months, our customers shared a lot of their future plans with me. Artificial intelligence [AI] and AI applications were the most talked about subjects in our conversation,” Wei said in a speech at the National Science and Technology Conference in Taipei. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, counts Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Apple Inc and
QUICK LOOK: The amendments include stricter recall requirements and Constitutional Court procedures, as well as a big increase in local governments’ budgets Portions of controversial amendments to tighten requirements for recalling officials and Constitutional Court procedures were passed by opposition lawmakers yesterday following clashes between lawmakers in the morning, as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members tried to block Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators from entering the chamber. Parts of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) and Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) passed the third reading yesterday. The legislature was still voting on various amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) as of press time last night, after the session was extended to midnight. Amendments to Article 4
RSS