The third round of cross-strait talks between the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) will be held from April 25 to April 29 in Nanjing, China, a preparatory meeting for the talks determined yesterday.
The delegation and representatives of the SEF will arrive in Nanjing on April 25. SEF Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) and his counterpart, ARATS Chairman Chen Yun-lin (陳雲林), will hold the formal negotiations on April 26, SEF Secretary-General Kao Koong-lian (高孔廉) told a press conference after the preparatory meeting at Taipei Grand Hyatt Hotel yesterday.
Kao, ARATS Deputy Chairman Zheng Lizhong (鄭立中) and their respective delegations held the preparatory meeting yesterday to determine the time, venue and agenda for the upcoming talks and put the final touches on three pacts to be signed during the meeting.
Chiang and Chen are expected to sign three agreements after the negotiations; one each on financial cooperation, changing direct cross-strait charter flights into regular flights and joint efforts to combat crime, as well as a joint statement on opening Taiwan to investment from China, Kao said.
Kao said the SEF and ARATS would not sign three memorandums of understanding (MOU) on banking, securities and futures, and insurance that Taiwan had wanted to sign because of the complexity of each of the three items.
Both sides would discuss the three items during the negotiations before signing the MOUs at a future date, he said.
In response to possible discussion of the government’s proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China, Kao said the preparatory meeting did not touch on the issue.
“Both sides agree that the issue should be addressed when the time is ripe. At the current stage, each side will focus on making the necessary preparations,” he said.
Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) and China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Wang Yi (王毅), however, had said on a different occasion that representatives from the two sides would exchange ideas on an ECFA during the talks.
Asked whether China would help repatriate Taiwanese fugitives such as former Tuntex Group chairman Chen Yu-hao (陳由豪) after signing an agreement on combating crime, Kao said the meeting did not address any individual cases, but added that repatriating economic criminals would be included in the agreement.
Zheng declined to divulge more on the matter during a press conference held by ARATS.
Kao declined to confirm Lai’s comment that a new air route would be determined during the meeting, and that both sides would seek to make cross-strait transportation more convenient for people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Chiang and the SEF delegation will meet Wang on April 26, and visit Taiwanese businesses in Nanjing, Yangzhou and Shanghai in the following days before returning to Taiwan on April 29.
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it is building nine new advanced wafer manufacturing and packaging factories this year, accelerating its expansion amid strong demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The chipmaker built on average five factories per year from 2021 to last year and three from 2017 to 2020, TSMC vice president of advanced technology and mask engineering T.S. Chang (張宗生) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “We are quickening our pace even faster in 2025. We plan to build nine new factories, including eight wafer fabrication plants and one advanced
RSS