The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said that a proposal to allow Chinese to make transit stops in Taiwan en route to other nations would not be included in the agenda of the 11th cross-strait summit to be held next week.
The council made the remarks at a Taipei news conference on the upcoming summit between the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), in Fuzhou, China, from Monday to Wednesday next week.
“We had hoped to be able to make public a consensus forged by both sides of the Taiwan Strait on the [transit stops] issue at the approaching summit. However, given that we have yet to settle on the issues of greatest concern to each side, a consensus might not be reached before the meeting,” MAC Deputy Minister Lin Chu-chia (林祖嘉) told reporters.
Lin would not be drawn on questions over whether the “delayed publication of common opinions” meant the agreement reached between MAC Minister Andrew Hsia (夏立言) and China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) during a meeting in Kinmen in May was a “bounced check.”
The pair said they would forge a consensus on the transit stops issue in the middle of this year and make public their opinions at the summit.
“Our side wants to separate the issues of transit stops and optimizing flight routes across the strait, given that the former is common international practice and can be implemented instantly, while the latter requires more time for discussion,” Lin said.
“Unfortunately, the mainland [China] aspires to see results on both issues,” Lin said, adding that the council would nonetheless continue its endeavor to obtain a green light for Taipei’s cross-strait layovers proposal.
Regarding an agreement on the avoidance of double taxation, which is to be signed at the summit, a Ministry of Finance official said the agreement is expected to alleviate the tax burden of Taiwanese businesspeople and corporations in China and increase Taiwan’s appeal to foreign investors.
Director of International Finance Sung Hsiu-ling (宋秀玲) said that after the agreement takes effect, it is estimated to reduce the tax burden on China-based Taiwanese companies by NT$4 billion (US$122.5 million) and bring the government additional annual tax revenue of between NT$8.1 billion and NT$13.3 billion.
As for a cross-strait aviation safety agreement also to be inked at the summit, Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Wu Meng-feng (吳盟分) said it would allow aviation personnel on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to examine and repair aircraft belonging to the other side.
“This will significantly reduce airline companies’ operating costs, boost their global competitiveness and decrease the frequency of delayed flights due to mechanical problems,” Wu said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by