Lien to push ECFA

Although critics have said a cross-strait ECFA deal could make Taiwan more reliant on China economically and even eventually undermine Taiwan's sovereign status, Lien said an ECFA deal with China would facilitate Taiwan's bid to sign free trade agreements with other APEC member economies.

As to whether he will touch on Taiwan's bid to expand international participation in his talks with Hu, Lien said the goal cannot be materialized hurriedly and instead will require long-term hard work.

President Ma has listed joining the International Civil Aviation Organization and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change as among his administration's major diplomatic goals.

Lien recalled that he mentioned Taiwan's aspiration to join the World Health Assembly — the World Health Organization's decision-making body — in his first meeting with Hu in Beijing in 2005. After years of concerted efforts, Taiwan finally managed to attend the WHA as an observer earlier this year.

“The administration's goals could be realized through dialogue with mutual understanding, goodwill, sincerity and trust,” Lien explained.

Meanwhile, he dismissed a media report that he will propose at the APEC summit the establishment an APEC typhoon research center in Taiwan, noting that it is not the norm in the international community that a proposal is formally brought up before bilateral and multilateral consultations have taken place.

“As many Asia-Pacific countries are liable to being struck by typhoons, I might broach some response strategies at the upcoming meeting... But it would be another issue to directly suggest creating a research center in Taiwan,” he added.

In addition to attending two plenary sessions with the top leaders of all the other APEC members during the two-day summit, Lien will also attend panel sessions with some other leaders and hold bilateral or multilateral talks with selected leaders.

This will be the second consecutive year that Lien has represented President Ma at the APEC leaders summit.

He also attended last year's summit in Peru, which made him the highest-ranking former Republic of China official ever allowed to take part in the annual summit.

In 1991, Taiwan gained full membership of the 21-member APEC, one of the few major international organizations that admits both Taiwan and China.

The nation's presidents, however, have never attended the summit meetings in person as a result of pressure from Beijing, but they have instead named special envoys who attend on their behalf.

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