Interactions between Taiwan and China are in a healthy state despite new problems that are testing the two nations, Beijing’s top negotiator for Taipei said yesterday.
China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits Chairman Chen Deming (陳德銘) said that the two sides would “engage in active consultations” on an upcoming agreement for free trade in merchandise and the exchange of representative offices.
Chen made the comments when he met with his Taiwanese counterpart, Lin Join-sane (林中森), chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation, on the sidelines of a forum attended by Taiwanese businesspeople in China.
Photo: CNA
It was the first meeting between the two since former Mainland Affairs Council deputy minister Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) was sacked on Aug. 16 for allegedly leaking official documents. Chang also lost his job as Lin’s deputy at the foundation, the organization responsible for the conduct of Taiwan’s relations with China.
There have been suggestions that the circumstances surrounding Chang’s removal could make it more difficult for President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) government to pursue his China policies, including efforts to sign new major agreements with Beijing and to have an agreement for free trade in services — signed in June last year — clear the legislature.
Lin said that the two sides are busy with issues that emerged as items requiring negotiations from the previous round of high-level bilateral talks, held in February this year.
In addition to the open meeting yesterday morning, Chen and Lin later yesterday also held a 30-minute meeting behind closed doors.
CHIPMAKING INVESTMENT: J.W. Kuo told legislators that Department of Investment Review approval would be needed were Washington to seek a TSMC board seat Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said he received information about a possible US government investment in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and an assessment of the possible effect on the firm requires further discussion. If the US were to invest in TSMC, the plan would need to be reviewed by the Department of Investment Review, Kuo told reporters ahead of a hearing of the legislature’s Economics Committee. Kuo’s remarks came after US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Tuesday said that the US government is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that
POWER PLANT POLL: The TPP said the number of ‘yes’ votes showed that the energy policy should be corrected, and the KMT said the result was a win for the people’s voice The government does not rule out advanced nuclear energy generation if it meets the government’s three prerequisites, President William Lai (賴清德) said last night after the number of votes in favor of restarting a nuclear power plant outnumbered the “no” votes in a referendum yesterday. The referendum failed to pass, despite getting more “yes” votes, as the Referendum Act (公民投票法) states that the vote would only pass if the votes in favor account for more than one-fourth of the total number of eligible voters and outnumber the opposing votes. Yesterday’s referendum question was: “Do you agree that the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have declared they survived recall votes to remove them from office today, although official results are still pending as the vote counting continues. Although final tallies from the Central Election Commission (CEC) are still pending, preliminary results indicate that the recall campaigns against all seven KMT lawmakers have fallen short. As of 6:10 pm, Taichung Legislators Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) and Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔), Hsinchu County Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘), Nantou County Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) and New Taipei City Legislator Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才) had all announced they
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) yesterday visited Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), as the chipmaker prepares for volume production of Nvidia’s next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) chips. It was Huang’s third trip to Taiwan this year, indicating that Nvidia’s supply chain is deeply connected to Taiwan. Its partners also include packager Siliconware Precision Industries Co (矽品精密) and server makers Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Quanta Computer Inc (廣達). “My main purpose is to visit TSMC,” Huang said yesterday. “As you know, we have next-generation architecture called Rubin. Rubin is very advanced. We have now taped out six brand new
RSS