Taiwan and China should put aside their political differences for now and focus on economic cooperation and exchanges, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said yesterday.
"We should put cross-strait trade issues under the global framework, and work to form a whole new economic model between the two sides," Chen said.
Chen made the remarks yesterday while delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Cross-Strait Common Market Foundation (
Siew has proposed a "cross-strait common market," a framework for economic cooperation and ties eventually leading to political integration.
The meeting drew intense media coverage yesterday because of the rare appearance together of high-ranking DPP and KMT officials, including KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
Chen said the EU was the best role model for Taiwan and China, as the EU is an open economic league that focuses on cooperation and mutual respect to achieve multilateral interests.
Chang characterized the idea of common market organization as "creative."
"Although we have learned from the past that political and economic cooperation are the only solutions to alleviate tension between Taiwan and China, the two sides still seem to be out of tune with each other in many respects," Chang said.
"For this reason, I consider Siew's idea to be very creative ... by forming a common market to remove controversial political and economic obstacles."
Siew said the idea behind his common market proposal was to achieve political integration via economic integration, such as the EU.
He said the establishment of a cross-strait common market would lead both sides into a new era, where cooperation replaces conflict and exchange replaces confrontation.
While both sides are doing their best to join the WTO, Siew said, the establishment of a cross-strait common market would add to the relationship by providing a new framework for cooperation.
The foundation, a non-governmental organization, will concentrate on promoting and researching the formation of a cross-strait common market, Siew said.
It will play the role of researcher to seek consensus among Taiwan, China and the international community regarding how to achieve such a goal, Siew added.
Siew, a former premier and former minister of economic affairs, has attracted much attention from officials in Beijing and Washington for pushing his common market concept in the hope of breaking the political impasse across the Strait.
Last year, Chen appointed Siew to attend the APEC summit, but the KMT -- which at the time was in the midst of a heated battle with the DPP over the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant -- prevented Siew from making the trip.
Given the president's appearance at yesterday's gathering to publicly show his support for Siew's proposal, political observers are watching to see whether Chen will pick Siew again to attend this year's meeting scheduled for October in Shanghai.
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