Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday welcomed a remark by a Chinese official who said the recent row over the name of Taiwan’s delegation on the opening night of the Tokyo International Film Festival on Saturday was caused by “a lack of communication.”
“At least the Chinese authorities have realized that both sides of the Strait have to eventually take the road of peaceful and stable development to benefit people on both sides of the Strait,” Wu said.
The Mainland Affairs Council, however, expressed discontent last night over the remark by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesman Yang Yi (楊毅), saying the content and his attitude did not live up to the expectations of Taiwanese.
Photo: CNA
Speaking at a regular press briefing in Beijing earlier yesterday, Yang blamed the incident on “a lack of communication,” and urged both sides to avoid “internal fighting” in public in the future to jointly safeguard the overall interests of all Chinese people.
“The situation probably took place due to a lack of communication between both sides. This is something we do not wish to see,” Yang said when asked about the altercation at the press briefing.
Yang said he believed the matter would not affect future collaboration or exchanges between filmmakers on both sides of the Strait.
Yang in his talk did not directly reprimand Jiang Ping (江平), the director of China’s delegation, who instigated the incident when he demanded that Taiwan’s group must include “China” in its official name at the festival.
Jiang’s demand was immediately refused by the Taiwanese delegation, which asserted that Taiwan had always participated in the festival as “Taiwan” and that there was no reason to deviate from the usual practice.
Commenting on Yang’s remarks, Wu echoed that in the development of cross-strait relations, both sides should bear in mind the overall interest of peace and stability, he said.
“Occasionally, there will be one or two Jiang Pings. It is unavoidable. Jiang Pings exist. As China’s population is more than 1.3 billion, how could it be possible that there are no Jiang Pings. Some Jiang Pings have revealed themselves, while others haven’t. There are many Internet users who are also Jiang Pings,” Wu said.
Executive Yuan Spokesman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), who previously termed the name spat an “isolated case,” yesterday declined to comment on Yang’s remarks.
Chiang, who is also the Government Information Office Minister, welcomed the announcement made by the TAO yesterday that China would lift the cap on the number of Taiwan-produced movies that can be imported each year, effective today.
After the article in the early harvest program of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) takes effect, Taiwanese films imported to China will not be subject to quota limits, but its review system to grant or deny access to its market remains in place.
China currently permits a maximum of 50 foreign motion pictures per year, and Taiwanese films were placed under the quota restrictions. The cap on the number of Chinese movies imported to Taiwan per year remained at 10 under the ECFA.
“The Mainland side had said that the regulation on the movie import quota would be put into effect tomorrow and that the Tokyo International Film Festival incident will not have an impact on cross-strait movie exchanges,” Chiang said.
“We’d like to call on the mainland to face the reality of Taiwan’s participation in international cultural and movie exchange activities and its right to do so,” he said.
“We also called on both sides of the Strait to participate in international movie activities under the principle of mutual respect and cooperation in the future.”
Saying that it was not easy to establish cross-strait stability and mutual trust, Chiang called on China to come up with concrete measures to implement the principle of “setting aside disputes and facing reality” so that both sides can build trust effectively.
When asked for comment, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) said Taiwan “understood” the response made by Yang but “will not forgive” Jiang’s actions.
The TAO’s response was “barely acceptable,” the lawmaker said, adding that the Taiwanese general public remains dissatisfied about the storm triggered by Jiang’s behavior.
The festival’s organizing committee has offered an apology to Taiwan over their lack of action in handling the matter. The festival office’s head, Nobushige Toshima, promised that Taiwan will always be welcome to attend the festival using the name “Taiwan.”
Accusing the KMT government of not daring to ask China to apologize, the Democratic Progressive Party caucus said it would propose to the legislature to pass a motion asking that the government to demand a formal apology from China.
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