Chinese negotiator leaves Taiwan after five-day visit

Shortly before his departure, Chen Yunlin, president of the Beijing-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), met briefly with the press at The Lalu hotel in Nantou County where he had stayed overnight to express his gratitude for the “understanding and concern” shown by Taiwan's people toward his delegation.

He said he was also very thankful for the efforts made by police in maintaining order during his stay in Taiwan, which allowed his talks with his Taipei counterpart, Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman P.K. Chiang, to proceed smoothly.

Chen also expressed concern over the condition of Chen Chu-hsiang, a Taichung police officer who was injured Wednesday when trying to stop protesters from launching firecrackers in the direction of the Windsor Hotel where the ARATS delegation was staying.

Lastly, the negotiator voiced his appreciation for the active involvement of the media to make information about the Chiang Chen talks known to the public.

He also invited Taiwan journalists to visit China more often to help promote cross-strait journalistic exchanges.

For his part, Chiang said that although he felt some regret that the signing of an agreement aimed at avoiding double taxation was postponed because of technical problems, his latest talks with Chen nevertheless marked the completion of yet another “historic mission” by the two sides.

The semi-annual meeting, which took place Tuesday in Taichung, was the fourth of its kind between Chiang and Chen since June 2008.

Besides signing agreements on fishing crew cooperation, agricultural quarantine inspection, and industrial product standards, inspection and certification, the two top negotiators also agreed to put intellectual property rights protection and the proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) on the agenda of their next meeting.

After the talks, Chen was shown around central Taiwan, including a tour to the popular tourist attraction of Sun Moon Lake in Nantou County.

Chen's visit, however, drew a series of protests by pro-independence organizations, led by the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, and other civic groups that oppose China's violations of human rights, including the Falun Gong spiritual group that is outlawed in China.

Chants of “stop the persecution of Falun Gong” and “Taiwan, China, one country on each side” were still heard when Chen left The Lalu in a limousine to head to Taichung Airport to catch a flight back to Beijing.

On the journey to the airport, however, hundreds of pro-unification activists lined up along the road to bid farewell to Chen.

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