Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) promised Taiwan’s APEC envoy Lien Chan (連戰) that talks on a proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) would start this year.
“We should continue to follow the approach of putting aside difficult issues and making economic issues the priority in advancing the cross-strait consultation,” Xinhua news agency quoted Hu as saying.
Both sides should “strive to launch the consultation process for a cross-strait economic cooperation framework agreement this year,” Hu added.
According to sources, Hu made the promise to Lien during a one-hour meeting at the St Regis Hotel on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Singapore, during which Hu and Lien addressed each other as “General Secretary Hu” and “Chairman Lien.”
Lien, a former Taiwanese vice president, was named by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) as his proxy for the APEC summit. Taiwan has been unable to send the president to the APEC summit since 1993 because of Beijing’s opposition.
Taiwanese government officials have said they hope the agreement would be signed by early next year. Although details have not been revealed, it would allow the two sides to enjoy tariff-free trade with each other on many products.
Hu, who was first to speak at the meeting yesterday, was cited as saying the two sides of the Taiwan Strait should seize the opportunity to build peace and expand their development horizons.
Lien hailed the noticeable improvement in cross-strait relations over the past year and thanked China for allowing the number of Chinese visitors to Taiwan to significantly increase. He also expressed gratitude for Chinese delegations’ large-scale procurements of Taiwanese products this year, as well as for Chinese donations to the victims of Typhoon Morakot.
Lien said it was the responsibility of both sides to create a win-win situation and that he appreciated “Hu’s support in this regard.”
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