Reports say China has new cross-strait negotiator

Reports that China will appoint a new and youthful Shanghai technocrat to replace its retiring negotiator with Taiwan were met with skepticism in Taiwan yesterday.

The United Daily News reported yesterday that 49-year-old technocrat Zhou Mingwei (周明偉) has been tipped to replace retiring Tang Shubei (唐樹備) as the vice chairman of the semi-official Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS).

Zhou, head of the Foreign Affairs Department of the Shanghai City Government, is also to replace Tang to become the deputy head of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, the report said.

Premier Tang Fei (唐飛) as well as Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) declined to comment on the newspaper report when questioned by New Party lawmaker Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) at the legislature yesterday.

The premier said Taiwan has remained consistent in declining to comment on any personnel shift in China, but would "pay close attention [to the development]."

Tang Fei said he had so far not received any related report and any further statement from the Taiwan authorities would remain pending until the news reports have been confirmed.

Tsai cited the report as saying that Zhou belongs to a new generation of Chinese officials and has experience in dealing with external affairs.

But when asked by Lai whether she considered the purpose of the possible appointment of a youthful Chinese official was to deal with "the extraordinarily dynamic" head of the MAC, Tsai responded with a smile. "I have no comment," she said.

Chang Jung-kung (張榮恭), head of the KMT's mainland affairs department, said he welcomed the reported personnel switch in China.

Zhou's youthfulness as well as his familiarity with Wang Daohan (汪道涵), ARATS chairman and China's top negotiator with Taiwan, would help smooth Wang's hand-ling of cross-strait affairs, Chang said.

New Party Legislator Elmer Feng (馮滬祥), who is currently in Beijing, said ARATS officials had denied the report of a personnel reshuffle. However, the Reuters news agency yesterday reported that Zhou would take over the key ARATS post in the "near term."

It is believed that the likely appointment of the young Harvard-trained official to join the team to deal with talks with Taiwan was also triggered by the new situtation across the Taiwan Strait, following the election in March of the DPP's Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) as president.

China and Taiwan remain deadlocked over Beijing's insistence that cross-strait talks can begin only if Taipei accepts its "one China" principle, under which Taiwan would agree that it is a part of the People's Republic of China.

Chen has declined to accept such a stance as a precondition for restarting negotiations with the Beijing government.