ECFA inking at 5th talks 'reasonable': Premier Wu

P.K. Chiang, chairman of Taiwan's quasi-official Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), and Chen Yunlin, president of China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), are expected to informally touch on the ECFA issue in their upcoming fourth round of talks that will take place in central Taiwan's Taichung City in December.

Chiang and Chen are expected to have some extra time in their talks after striking four agreements at the meeting, which will allow them to exchange initial views on the ECFA proposal, Wu said.

They are expected to ink four agreements on fishing crew cooperation, agricultural quarantine inspection, industrial product standards, inspection and certification, and the avoidance of double taxation.

Wu noted that agencies from the two sides have exchanged views on the ECFA on several previous occasions and that the Chiang-Chen talks could pave the way for the signing of the ECFA at their fifth round of talks, hopefully to be held in the first half of 2010.

As to the much-discussed signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on cross-strait financial supervision, the premier stressed that equality and national dignity are two guiding principles for cross-strait negotiations.

“We would opt not to sign the MOU under circumstances in which our national dignity and the principle of equality are not observed,” Wu added.

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