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Updated Saturday, April 16, 2011 11:11 pm TWN, The China Post news staff and CNA



	Taiwan delegation leader Frederick F. Chien, fourth from right, shakes hands and talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao ahead of the opening of the 2011 Boao Forum for Asia being held at Boao in China's southern Hainan Province. (CNA ) Enlarge Photo

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Chien talks with China's president at Boao forum

Frederick F. Chien, head of Taiwan's delegation to the 2011 Boao Forum for Asia, exchanged greetings and chatted briefly with Chinese President Hu Jintao yesterday ahead of the annual event's opening of the conference at Boao in China's southern Hainan Province.

Chien, a retired diplomat who was appointed by President Ma Ying-jeou as chief of Taiwan's 38-member delegation, declined, however, to reveal what the two talked about.

Asked if he conveyed any messages from Ma to China's top leader, Chien simply said, “I'm not a messenger.”

When pressed further by Taiwanese reporters about his brief conversation with Hu, Chien said it would not be appropriate for him to reveal what was said in the conversation.

Because of Hu's tight schedule, Chien took advantage of a 15-minute photo session between Hu and members of Taiwan's delegation to chat with Hu twice. The session took place about half an hour before the forum opened.

Chien is attending the forum in his capacity as a senior adviser to the Taipei-based Cross-Strait Common Market Foundation.

He said that the Boao conference has achieved a lot in furthering international economic cooperation and Taiwan has made contributions to attaining the goal.

Now in its 10th year, the Boao Forum for Asia is modeled after the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and is “committed to promoting regional economic integration and bringing Asian countries even closer to their development goals,” according to its website.

Vice President Vincent Siew said earlier this week that the Boao Forum is “one of the important platforms for cross-Taiwan Strait affairs.”

Siew's participation in the Boao Forum in 2008, soon after the Ma-Siew team won Taiwan's presidential-vice presidential election, was seen as a breakthrough that served as a catalyst for warmer cross-strait ties.

Chien will chair a “Cross-Strait Business Roundtable” today, which will explore how Taiwanese businesses can tap into the opportunities created by China's current 12th Five-Year Development Plan.

Taiwanese business leaders, especially those from the financial sector, will also seek to discuss with their Chinese counterparts how they can develop further cooperation under the terms of the economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) signed last June.

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