Taiwanese officials denied an account in a Chinese-language newspaper that the third round of negotiations for the new Taiwan-Hong Kong air accord was held yesterday.
Jan Jyh-horng (詹志宏), the director of the Mainland Affairs Council's (MAC) research and planning department, told the Taipei Times that reports suggesting the negotiations were underway and that the accord was expected to be signed, were ridiculous and "far from the truth."
Jan, who is one of the negotiators for the talks with Hong Kong, said that according to his sources, the rumors came from outside of Taiwan.
Jan pledged that "once the talks make further progress, we will announce the results to the public immediately."
MAC Vice Chairman Chen Ming-tong (
Chang Kuo-cheng (張國政), Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA, 民航局) director-general and one of the negotiators in the talks, told the Taipei Times yesterday afternoon that he was still in Penghu with Lin Ling-san (林陵三), the Minister of Transportation and Communications.
"It is impossible for the negotiations to be held today," Chang said.
The original Taiwan-Hong Kong air accord will expire at the end of June.
In addition, the Chinese-language newspaper also stated that Far East Air Transport will join China Airlines and EVA Airways to operate the flight route between Taiwan and Hong Kong once the new pact is signed.
Lin said the reports concerning Far East Air Transport were false.
Lin went to Penghu yesterday to monitor the search-and-rescue work for the China Airlines CI-611 crash accident.
He said that the ministry never indicated that Far East Air Transport will take over China Airlines' new flights if the pact is signed.
China Airlines was automatically ruled out for obtaining new flights for the Taiwan-Hong Kong pact because international regulations prohibit airline companies from gaining new flights if the company has had a crash in the previous year.
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