Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) arrived in Beijing yesterday for historic talks on improved cross-strait relations.
“We hope through the talks this time that the two sides will be able to achieve a win-win situation so that people across the Taiwan Strait can live better,” Chiang said before departing Taipei.
He said his four-day trip to Beijing was a “journey to build mutual trust” with China.
PHOTO: AP
The two sides had their first historic talks in 1993 in Singapore, but China suspended further dialogue in 1999 to retaliate against Taiwanese officials advocating independence.
“Although the schedule sounds simple, the task is very heavy and the significance is also quite heavy,” Chiang said.
“These meeting topics are a starting point, which affects the development of relations between the two sides,” he said.
“Basically, what we are trying to achieve through the talks is cross-strait peace and prosperity as well as stability in the Asia-Pacific region,” Chiang said.
The delegation was welcomed upon its arrival by Zheng Lizhong (鄭立中), the executive deputy director of the Taiwan Affairs Office in China’s State Council.
Liang was scheduled to escort the 19-member delegation to a formal reception last night.
Weekend charter flights and opening Taiwan to more Chinese tourists will be discussed by Chiang and his Chinese counterpart Chen Yunlin (陳雲林), head of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) today.
Chiang was expected to sign agreements with Chen and then meet Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) tomorrow. The delegation will return home on Saturday.
The group flew from Taipei to Macau and then took an Air Macau flight to Beijing. Chiang did not make any public comments upon arrival.
The official China Daily said yesterday that this week’s meeting reflected the “warming of relations” since President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) replaced former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
Meanwhile, Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) said yesterday that the cross-strait cargo charter flight issue would surely be included in today’s negotiation, rebutting criticism that the government had allowed Beijing to set the agenda for the talks.
Liu said the deals on direct weekend charter flights for passengers and Chinese tourists would materialize soon because both sides of the Strait had exchanged views on the issues many times.
“But there surely will be discussion of the cargo flight issue during the negotiation,” he said, adding that he would comment further after the negotiations.
Liu said the Cabinet was scheduled to approve a proposal next Thursday to open the small three links — the direct transportation between Kinmen and Matsu and the Chinese port cities of Xiamen and Fuzhou — to all Taiwanese.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of National Defense announced yesterday that it had indefinitely postponed a live-fire exercise scheduled for tomorrow on Kinmen, after holding one on Monday.
“Cross-strait relations is one of the factors weighed when we made the decision,” ministry spokeswoman Chi Yu-lan (池玉蘭) told Agence France-Presse.
“We are pleased to see bilateral ties moving on the track of peace and stability,” she said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SHIH HSIU-CHUAN
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from