Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) chairman-designate Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) lauded late SEF chairman Koo Chen-fu (辜振甫) yesterday for his contributions to improving cross-strait relations and pledged to prioritize Taiwanese interests when negotiating with China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS).
“The functions of the SEF will not only have a huge impact on the future development of Taiwan, but will also influence and benefit people across the Taiwan Strait,” Chiang said at a ceremony held by the Koo Foundation to publicize a documentary on the late SEF chief.
Chiang said when president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) asked him to take over the position on April 13, he vowed to spare no effort to pick up where Koo left off and push for peaceful cross-strait relations.
PHOTO: YAO CHIEH-HSIU, TAIPEI TIMES
Chiang embarked on a four-day visit to China yesterday afternoon. He will meet with representatives of Taiwanese companies operating there to thank them for supporting Ma during the presidential election last month.
Chiang declined to confirm whether he would meet Chinese officials during the trip.
Ma, along with other top Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials, including vice president-elect Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) and former premier Hau Pei-tsun (郝柏村), praised Koo for his lifetime dedication to improving cross-strait relations.
“Koo is a model, an institution and a legend,” Ma said during the ceremony.
Ma lauded Koo for expanding the scope of the SEF and bringing the foundation’s functions into full play.
He said he expected the SEF to play a more important role as the channel for cross-strait negotiations under his administration.
Koo, who died of cancer of the kidney at the age of 88 in 2005, was born into a rich family in Tamsui. The family said that Koo was the well-loved offspring of a successful businessman and politically influential figure.
The documentary showed Koo as a teenager who excelled in sports and literature.
At the premiere of the documentary yesterday, his wife, Cecilia Koo (辜嚴倬雲), said her husband dedicated his life to the cross-strait issue. Even on his death bed, he expressed regret that he was not able to witness the reconciliation of Taiwan and China in his lifetime.
Koo, usually called the top negotiator on cross-strait issues, helped found and served as the first chairman of the SEF, a nongovernmental organization dealing with cross-strait matters.
In 1993, Koo led a high-level delegation to Singapore to conduct unprecedented talks with his Chinese counterpart, ARATS chairman Wang Daohan (汪道涵).
The meeting was later dubbed the “Koo-Wang Talks” in Taiwan and “Wang-Koo Talks” in China. However, it did not produce any practical results because both sides remained unyielding on the “one China” issue.
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