Both sides of the Taiwan Strait should communicate and negotiate on issues pertaining to the participation of Taiwan, including Taiwanese non-governmental organizations (NGOs), in international NGOs and occasions so that unnecessary confrontations and unpleasant incidents can be avoided, Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) said yesterday.
Hu made the remarks in a closed-door meeting with President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) APEC envoy Lien Chan (連戰), who visited Hu at the latter’s hotel in Yokohama, Japan, on the sidelines of the APEC leaders’ summit.
“During the meeting, I mentioned to Hu that since cross-strait relations have improved, we could now work together in many more ways, such as in [cross-strait] economic and trade cooperation and in regional economic integration,” Lien told a news conference yesterday evening after meeting Hu in the morning and taking part in the APEC economic leaders’ summit in the afternoon.
Photo: CNA
“I also told [Hu] that Taiwan-based NGOs have participated in international events for many years — and I think Taiwan’s NGOs have far more experiences in international organizations and events than those based in China,” Lien said. “Taiwan should not miss out.”
In response to Lien’s remarks, Hu said that such issues should be resolved through further cross-strait negotiations “to avoid unnecessary internal friction and unpleasant events in the future.”
Asked by the press whether Hu was referring to the feud between the Taiwanese and Chinese delegations at the Tokyo International Film Festival last month, Lien said no particular event was mentioned.
On the opening night of the film festival on Oct. 23, the head of the Chinese delegation demanded that the Taiwanese delegation use the word “China” as part of its name, a request which was rejected by the Taiwanese delegation that was led by Chen Chih-kuan (陳志寬), director of the Government Information Office’s Department of Motion Pictures Affairs. The argument lasted more than 90 minutes, causing both delegations to miss their grand entrances.
At the meeting, Lien and Hu addressed each other by party titles instead of official titles: Lien addressed Hu as “General Secretary Hu” — referring to his title as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, while Hu addressed Lien as “Chairman Lien” — referring to Lien’s title as honorary chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Before Hu was to deliver a speech at 11am yesterday, he only received two guests at his hotel. The first guest was Lien, who was then followed by Hong Kong Chief Executive Donal Tsang (曾蔭權).
Later yesterday, Lien took part in the leaders’ summit, during which he said he had “talked with every one of the leaders from all 21 APEC member economies. No one was missed.”
Lien reaffirmed Taiwan’s willingness to work in collaboration with Indonesia to develop Morotai Island with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and added that the two countries can use the Morotai project as a platform to develop further joint ventures.
Lien also declared Taiwan’s willingness to host an APEC leaders’ summit.
APEC economic leaders are scheduled to hold a second closed-door summit meeting today to produce a “Leaders’ Declaration” to conclude this year’s APEC meeting.
Commenting on Hu’s remarks that both sides should negotiate on Taiwan’s international participation in Taipei, Democratic Progressive Party spokesperson Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) called on China to respect Taiwan’s international presence and participation, adding that as a sovereign nation Taiwan was entitled to enjoy sovereign authority.
“Taiwanese people will never accept [China’s] attitude if it habitually attempts to ‘domesticize’ Taiwan and refuses to treat Taiwan with equal respect and on an equal footing,” Tsai said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SU YUNG-YAO
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