Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) yesterday urged the public to look at the upcoming cross-strait talks with an open mind, adding that he would conduct all negotiations under the principle that Taiwan is the focus and that the interests of the public come first.
Chiang said he hoped the Chinese people and the international community would see Taiwan’s democracy and rationality during exchanges between the SEF and its Chinese counterpart, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS).
“The two sides take turns holding the meetings. This is to showcase the principles of equality and dignity,” he said. “Through reciprocal negotiations, we show our confidence and unity.”
Chiang made the remarks while briefing the board of directors of the foundation in the run-up to his meeting with ARATS Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林). The meeting is scheduled to be held in Taichung next week.
The two sides will address four issues and sign four agreements on fishing industry cooperation, quality checks of agricultural products, cross-strait cooperation in standard inspection and certification and the prevention of double taxation.
They will also “exchange opinions” on an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA). As the administration plans to sign the proposed pact next year, it hopes to place the issue on the agenda of the next round of cross-strait talks scheduled for the first half of next year.
Chiang said both sides would not negotiate the planned accord nor sign it during his meeting with Chen next week.
Borrowing the concept of Time magazine, which described the first decade of the 21st century as the “decade from hell,” Chiang said Taiwan’s situation was not any better and described the last 10 years as the “lost decade.”
With the fourth round of cross-strait talks approaching, Chiang called on the public to view the upcoming Chiang-Chen meeting with an open mind.
“We will have the public interest in mind and follow the principle set forth by Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義),” he said. “That is, all policies must be necessary for the country, supported by the people and supervised by the legislature.”
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in Chiayi on Sunday that details of the negotiations on an ECFA would be reviewed by the legislature. He also said that the proposed pact would not concern sovereignty and was only economic in nature.
The planned accord would also help remove the hurdles blocking the country from joining other regional economic entities, he said.
Meanwhile, in response to a proposal by political cartoonist and chief executive of the online broadcasting network Yushan TV, Lin Kuei-yu (林奎佑) — better known as Yu-fu (魚夫) — to “catch Chen Yunlin alive” during his visit, Chiang said it was the government’s responsibility to ensure Chen’s safety.
In a blog post, Yu-fu said he had discussed some “secret plans to catch Chen alive when he’s in Taiwan” with Taiwan independence advocates Koo Kwang-min (辜寬敏) and Koo’s wife, Michelle Wang (王美琇), and asked Internet users to help locate Chen’s whereabouts.
He called on Internet users to use laptops and cellphones with Internet access to provide updates on Chen’s location and send live videos of any protests.
Yu-fu declined to reveal what the “secret plans” were.
Asked by lawmakers to comment on the matter, a National Police Agency official said the agency’s job was to maintain order and help the meetings proceed smoothly.
The official said Yu-fu’s remarks could cause clashes and were “inappropriate.”
The Criminal Investigation Bureau said it would launch a probe to determine if Yu-fu’s behavior constituted incitement.
Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said yesterday that he did not know whether Yu-fu was serious about his plan, but vowed to respond with care.
Meanwhile, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Spokesman Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) held a press conference yesterday to present the party’s stance on next week’s meeting, proposing “three calls, three stances”
Tsai said that first, the DPP was calling on the government to sign any agreement or statement that would commit it to transparency and monitoring by the legislature.
Second, the DPP calls on the SEF to review the implementation of past agreements accurately and to make corrections if necessary, he said.
Third, in terms of the content of an ECFA, the DPP calls on the government to fully communicate with the legislature in advance and obtain public approval through a referendum.
As for the three stances, Tsai said the DPP demands that negotiators on the Taiwanese side make the Taiwanese people’s health and safety a priority on the issues of both agricultural quarantine and measurement standards, and protect Taiwanese laborers’ and fishers’ rights, while ensuring its right of jurisdiction on the issue of double taxation to clarify the public’s doubts about the meeting.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
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