Ma denies China political talks report

In the report on an exclusive interview with Ma yesterday morning, the news agency pointed out that the president is ready to “move toward a political dialogue with China once remaining economic issues are resolved.”

　While reporting that Ma has given no timetable for such talks, the AP said he suggested that “those political talks could start as early as a second four-year term if he wins re-election in 2012.”

The AP reported that “asked if he would move to political talks in a second term once economic issues are dealt with, Ma said 'it depends on how fast we move.'”

In a rare response only hours after the AP report, the president said in an unannounced press conference at 8:30 p.m. last night that he “specifically told him (the AP journalist) that economic talks must go before politics.”

“When the journalist asked me whether political talks would begin in my second team, I told him that there is no timetable,” Ma said, adding that such comment was in line with his long term stance on the issue.

“I did not link the discussion of political problems with (my) second term at all in my remarks,” the president stressed.

The AP article quoted Ma as saying that the move to political agreement with Beijing will be a “long historical” transition with no timetable for the process. It also reported that Ma “made it clear that he did not intend to push democratic Taiwan into a political agreement that would hasten Beijing's long-stated goal of unification.”

According to the AP, Ma pointed out that cross-strait “political union” requires the mainland Chinese government to show progress in adopting democracy and respecting human rights.

　“What happened to Liu Xiaobo also demonstrates that they have a long way to go,” Ma was quoted by the AP as saying, referring to the jailed Chinese dissident who won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize. “Taiwan is a democracy. We elect our president, we elect our parliament and we run our own business,” he said.

　The AP also quoted Ma as saying that his government is ready for political and security discussions with the mainland after discussing economic issues.

　“We are not intentionally delaying the talks on political issues. Certainly the economic ones are more important to people here. People also support the idea (of) economy first, politics later,” said Ma, according to the AP.

　Ma described his economy-first approach in cross-strait affairs as a strategy to enhance Taiwan's security by rendering China's practice to aim missiles at Taiwan “illogical,” as thousands of mainlanders visit Taiwan on any given day.

　“The most important strategy is to make the leadership in Beijing not even consider invading Taiwan because that would hurt their interests too,” Ma was quoted as saying.

　Ma also highlighted in the interview Taiwan's policy to upgrade its defense and to count on the U.S. for assistance. He reiterated that Taipei still posts requests to Washington for the F-16 C/D fighter jets as replacements for older fighters despite Beijing's warning against such an arms deal.

　“We are not seeking war with any country. This is very much understood in Washington. Of course China continues to oppose that. So we have made it very clear that to maintain the adequate defense of Taiwan is the intention,” Ma was quoted as saying.

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