The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday played down a row between China and Japan over the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台), insinuating that China would not use economic means to resolve cross-strait disputes if both sides continue to build mutual trust through institutionalized negotiations.
Asked to comment on the crisis and what it implied for Beijing’s approach to Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Liu Te-shun (劉德勳) was evasive about whether the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was worried about the possibility that Beijing would use economic means to settle disputes, as it has been doing with Tokyo.
“What I see now is that both sides have built more trust through institutionalized negotiations,” Liu said. “The more solid we build the foundation, the more cross-strait stability will develop.”
Japan had intended to prosecute the captain of a Chinese fishing boat that collided with two Japanese Coast Guard vessels in disputed waters off the Diaoyutais two weeks ago. Amid mounting pressure from Beijing, Tokyo decided to release the captain, angering many Japanese, who described the decision as foolish and humiliating.
Immediately following the release of the skipper, Beijing demanded an apology and compensation, requests that Tokyo categorically rejected.
Liu said the reason Taipei and Beijing had signed 14 agreements — including the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) in June — over the past two years was to resolve the longstanding problem of a trade imbalance in the Taiwan Strait.
As all the agreements were negotiated through an institutionalized platform, Liu said, they would help normalize cross-strait trade and make business activity across the Strait “more systematic.”
As the agreements include different channels of communication and negotiation, they would be conducive to fixing future problems generated by economic exchanges, he said.
As for economic development, Liu said the entire world was facing the same problem of changing regional structures.
“Every country will find the best way to adjust itself to help its own economic development,” he said.
In related news, Liu said Taipei and Beijing were still negotiating details of the planned cross-strait economic cooperation committee, which is to be formed within six months of the ECFA coming into force on Sept. 12.
The committee will handle negotiations, implementation, application and interpretation of the agreement or disputes resulting from it.
Topping the agenda are planned discussions on agreements on investment protection, trade in commodities, services and a dispute-resolving mechanism, as stipulated in the ECFA.
On Sept. 15, the council authorized the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) to begin negotiations on the formation of the committee and upcoming talks between SEF Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) and his Chinese counterpart, Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林).
Chiang and Chen are expected to sign an investment protection pact and an agreement on medical and healthcare cooperation later this year.
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