With heavy security in place and plans for protests by the opposition, China’s top cross-strait negotiator is scheduled to arrive today for a five-day visit expected to cover four agreements on food safety, direct air and shipping links and direct postal services.
Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Chairman Liu Te-shun (劉德勳) yesterday said Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) was scheduled to arrive at the Grand Hotel around noon.
Chen was to make a short speech in the Grand Hotel lobby shortly after his arrival, where he would be welcomed by Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤).
Later today, Chen is scheduled to visit Cecilia Koo (辜嚴倬雲), the widow of former SEF chairman Koo Chen-fu (辜振甫), and to tour Taipei 101.
In the meantime, the SEF and ARATS vice chairmen will proceed with preparatory negotiations on the four agreements.
Chen is scheduled to meet Chiang at the Grand Hotel tomorrow morning, with the two expected to sign all four agreements in the afternoon.
The agreements address increasing direct passenger flights, opening direct cargo flights and shipping and shortening existing flight routes across the Taiwan Strait, officials said.
Also on the agenda are food safety issues after tainted Chinese products sickened at least three Taiwanese children and one woman and sparked a countrywide melamine scare.
Chen is also likely to meet President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
“I will probably meet him [Chen Yunlin],” Ma said in a recent television interview. “The meeting will provide an important basis to promote cross-strait peace.”
Although it was not originally on the agenda, Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) said on Friday that the government hoped to sign a memorandum of understanding on cross-strait financial supervision during Chen’s stay.
Chen’s visit has proven a contentious issue that has divided public opinion.
A recent survey by television station TVBS found that 33 percent of 901 people polled believed the nation would benefit from the talks. Another 22 percent disagreed, while 23 percent believed there would be no significant effect.
Analysts said this week’s talks could mark a significant step in cross-strait relations.
The talks will build on negotiations in June, when Chen and Chiang met in Beijing for the first direct dialogue between the two sides in a decade.
“I think China will emerge as the winner in the talks by pulling off a major propaganda coup with Taiwan,” said Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明), a political pundit at Soochow University in Taipei.
Wu Nengyuan (吳能遠) of China’s Fujian Academy of Social Science, whose research focuses on Taiwan, said: “Chen’s visit to Taiwan is a landmark development in cross-strait ties.”
“The agreements will give a major boost to Taiwan’s economy and trade,” he said.
Also See: CROSS-STRAIT TALKS: Activists form anti-communist corps
Also See: CROSS-STRAIT TALKS: Security ramped up for Chen trip
Also See: CROSS-STRAIT TALKS: FEATURE: Chen's visit stokes debate on Ma's media favoritism
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS