The new Taiwan-Hong Kong air accord is a compromise between Taiwan and Beijing that has produced a possible model for future cross-strait talks, analysts said yesterday.
Hsieh Fu-yuan (
The talks had become bogged down in the opposing viewpoints of Beijing and Taipei.
China wanted to regard the aviation talks as an "internal affair of the state" because it regards Taiwan as part of its territory. Taiwan, wanting to ensure its independent sovereignty, insisted the talks be conducted on a government-to-government basis.
Despite the differences, the Taiwan-Hong Kong route is important to both sides and there was pressure on both sides to reach a deal.
According to Jan Jyh-horng (
However, Jan said, "Taiwan added a representative from the private sector because Hong Kong asked it to do so."
Nevertheless, during the four rounds of negotiations, "The representative from the private sector was not allowed to offer opinions unless officials told him to do so," a high-ranking official from the MAC said.
Since Beijing did not oppose the composition of Taiwan's delegation, many officials from the MAC agreed that the "Taiwan-Hong Kong air-pact negotiations model" left room for both Taiwan and Beijing to interpret the matter in their own ways.
"Now China can say the talks were an internal affair of a state, while Taiwan can claim they're government-to-government talks," Hsieh said. "The compromise made signing the new pact possible."
Not only did Taiwan and Beijing compromise on the composition of the delegations, but they both had to give ground on the format of the agreements.
An MAC official who wished to stay anonymous said that Taiwan had originally wanted to follow the regular format of international flight agreements, "but the Hong Kong side opposed the idea and wanted a commercial agreement instead."
The final agreement thus differed slightly from the regular international format but kept international flight regulations in the agreements.
"We put international regulations into the agreements, such as regulations on customs, flight examination procedures ? it could not be a domestic flight agreement as China said," the official said.
Taiwan could also claim success over the name of the agreement.
The original pact, signed in 1996, was "the commercial agreement among four airline companies." The new agreement, however, is "the air transportation agreement between Taiwan and Hong Kong."
"The flexibility that both sides have is a key factor that made the new pact possible," Hsieh said. But he also warned that in the future, if Beijing is not willing to compromise, "it will be a serious obstacle for Taiwan."
MAC Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said after the agreement was reached on Saturday that the negotiation model for the Taiwan-Hong Kong air pact may be a reference for future cross-strait talks, especially regarding direct links.
She added, however, "Each negotiation is different. You have to consider every factor involved in the matter. Anything is possible as long as Taiwan and Beijing sit down to talk."
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
RSS