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MOU will be signed soon: Fai

The exact time and place for the signing of a cross-strait memorandum of understanding (MOU) on financial supervision remain unclear, but the signing will take place soon, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alex Fai (費鴻泰) said yesterday.

The MOU may be finalized this month, Fai said.

The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) will not be the sole deal negotiator on the Taiwan side, he said.

“The National Security Council and the Mainland Affairs Council are also expected to play key roles in the signing of the MOU,” Fai said.

Fai, convener of the legislature’s Finance Committee, said KMT lawmakers, particularly members of the Finance Committee, support the MOU because it would allow domestic financial institutions to expand loan and insurance services in China.

The MOU will not adversely affect domestic industries, he said.

Vice Premier Eric Chu (朱立倫) said on Friday that a breakthrough in negotiations on the MOU would come “in the next two days,” a statement that drove up the local bourse more than 100 points in the first half of that day’s trading.

The Chinese-language Commercial Times reported on Saturday that FSC Chairman Sean Chen (陳冲) had been scheduled to fly to Beijing over the weekend for the MOU signing, but did not go because of a disagreement about the wording of the MOU.

The paper did not say where it obtained its information.

The Chinese-language Economic Daily News quoted Chen as saying yesterday that he had no plans to fly abroad this weekend. The paper said the MOU would be signed before the local government elections on Dec. 5.

Chen is scheduled to brief the Finance Committee today about the potential impact of the MOU and a proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China on the financial industry.

KMT Legislator Chen Shu-hui (陳淑慧), who recently visited China to assess the progress of the MOU talks, said yesterday she would ask FSC officials today when and where the signing would take place.

Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) said the two sides have almost concluded the negotiations on the details of the MOU.

Meanwhile, the director of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, Wang Yi (王毅), said in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, yesterday that “we are ready to sign the MOU.”
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