After negotiations on Taiwan-Hong Kong aviation rights yesterday ended after three hours, a Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) official said that the talks had "proceeded smoothly," despite local Chinese-language media reports that they had broken down.
While the government was tight-lipped about the reasons for the brevity of the talks, the Civil Aeronautics Adminsitration (CAA) hinted that there was truth in speculation that they had foundered on Taiwan's insistence that a new aviation pact be signed between the two sides' governments.
The official, Jan Jyh-horng (詹志宏), director of the MAC's Research and Planning Department, and a member of Taiwan's eight-person negotiating team, held a press conference after the talks ended. Taipei and Hong Kong representatives had met in Taipei in the morning to negotiate a new Taiwan-Hong Kong air accord. A second extension to the current accord expires at the end of June.
Jan said the atmosphere in the negotiations was harmonious, and that each side had agreed to receive a proposal from the other for further study, and that a further round of official negotiations would be held "as early as possible."
"We engaged in a broad exchange of opinions, and the Taipei delegation gave the Hong Kong representatives concrete plans such as the number of flights intended to operate between the two sides," said Jan.
He added that the two sides had agreed not to disclose details of the meeting in order to ensure that the next negotiation also proceeds smoothly.
As far as widespread media speculation that the negotiation had broken down because the MAC demanded Taiwanese official bodies sign the new agreement, was concerned, Jan said, "We did not discuss this in the meeting at all."
Overall, Jan said he was optimistic about signing the new accord by the end of June.
As to how the agreement would be signed and who would represent the two entities signing it, Jan declined to elaborate.
But comments made at a second conference held at the same time by Chang Kuo-cheng (
"No conclusion was reached. [The Hong Kong side] will take back our proposal and study it," said Chang, who added that there was a divergence in the way the two sides wanted to handle the agreement.
While not specifying exactly what had led to the failure to reach a conclusion, Chang did say that aviation agreements between Taiwan and all other countries were based on international standards and comprised two parts: a main contract and a supplemental agreement.
Chang explained that the main contract usually detailed procedures for flight crew entering and leaving the country and ticket prices, while the supplemental part covered the allocation of flight numbers.
Hong Kong wants to use the 1996 model used to draw up the current pact, for which airlines conducted the negotiations and signed the agreements, which detailed only the basics such as flight frequency.
Chang refused to be drawn on whether Taiwan was looking to classify the route as international, rather than domestic as preferred by China.
"All places are different and the problems [in signing a deal with Hong Kong] still exist," said Chang.
The existing five-year Taiwan-Hong Kong aviation agreement was signed in 1996. In order to maintain normal Taiwan-Hong Kong flight services, the original pact has twice been twice extended, in June and December last year.
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