SEF chair Chiang arrives in Nanjing for cross-strait signing

Chen, welcoming Chiang and the Taiwan delegation he is leading in Nanjing, noted that both sides have signed six agreements in less than a year since cross-strait talks resumed.

Chen, president of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), said he is confident that the talks slated for today will be fruitful.

Chen and Chiang, chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), will seek to sign agreements on regular cross-strait flights, joint-crime fighting efforts, and financial collaboration.

Both sides also hope to issue a joint statement concerning the opening of Taiwan to Chinese investors.

Representatives of the SEF and ARATS held a preparatory meeting later yesterday to finalize the texts of the agreements and the joint statement.

Coming out of the 90-minute preparatory meeting, both sides said it proceeded in a congenial atmosphere.

Asked if all differences had been ironed out, SEF Vice Chairman Fu Tung-cheng said both sides will give priority to issues that they could reach consensuses on.

“Questions that remain will need further negotiations,” he said.

But he said they had not touched on the signing of an Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), an idea that President Ma Ying-jeou had proposed.

The meeting between Chiang and Chen today will be their third since the resumption of cross-strait dialogue less than one year ago.

In Taipei, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan promised that SEF and ARATS are conducting the talks on an equal footing, and the Taipei envoy will give top priority to interests of Taiwan and its people.

“With the backing from the public, I believe the upcoming Chiang-Chen meet will be fruitful and help create a mutually beneficial situation across the strait,” she said while seeing off the SEF delegation at the Taoyuan Airport.

Lai cited a recent MAC survey as indicating that more than 60 percent of respondents thought the Chiang-Chen meeting would help normalize cross-strait trade and economic ties.

Lai said during a radio interview that opening up to investment from China will be an important step in normalizing trade and economic ties across the strait.

She said the one-way movement of investment from Taiwan to China over the past 20 years has tilted the balance of cross-strait capital flows.

But the pro-Taiwan-independence Democratic Progressive Party has claimed that the Ma administration is being hijacked by China.

DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen said her party will take “necessary actions” if the Chiang-Chen talks fail to address the Taiwan opposition camp's opinions.

She said the talks between SEF and ARATS have been conducted without parliamentary monitoring and the general public's full understanding of their contents.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

PrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email