The new Taiwan-Hong Kong air accord is a compromise between Taiwan and Beijing that has produced a possible model for future cross-strait talks, analysts said yesterday.
Hsieh Fu-yuan (
The talks had become bogged down in the opposing viewpoints of Beijing and Taipei.
China wanted to regard the aviation talks as an "internal affair of the state" because it regards Taiwan as part of its territory. Taiwan, wanting to ensure its independent sovereignty, insisted the talks be conducted on a government-to-government basis.
Despite the differences, the Taiwan-Hong Kong route is important to both sides and there was pressure on both sides to reach a deal.
According to Jan Jyh-horng (
However, Jan said, "Taiwan added a representative from the private sector because Hong Kong asked it to do so."
Nevertheless, during the four rounds of negotiations, "The representative from the private sector was not allowed to offer opinions unless officials told him to do so," a high-ranking official from the MAC said.
Since Beijing did not oppose the composition of Taiwan's delegation, many officials from the MAC agreed that the "Taiwan-Hong Kong air-pact negotiations model" left room for both Taiwan and Beijing to interpret the matter in their own ways.
"Now China can say the talks were an internal affair of a state, while Taiwan can claim they're government-to-government talks," Hsieh said. "The compromise made signing the new pact possible."
Not only did Taiwan and Beijing compromise on the composition of the delegations, but they both had to give ground on the format of the agreements.
An MAC official who wished to stay anonymous said that Taiwan had originally wanted to follow the regular format of international flight agreements, "but the Hong Kong side opposed the idea and wanted a commercial agreement instead."
The final agreement thus differed slightly from the regular international format but kept international flight regulations in the agreements.
"We put international regulations into the agreements, such as regulations on customs, flight examination procedures ? it could not be a domestic flight agreement as China said," the official said.
Taiwan could also claim success over the name of the agreement.
The original pact, signed in 1996, was "the commercial agreement among four airline companies." The new agreement, however, is "the air transportation agreement between Taiwan and Hong Kong."
"The flexibility that both sides have is a key factor that made the new pact possible," Hsieh said. But he also warned that in the future, if Beijing is not willing to compromise, "it will be a serious obstacle for Taiwan."
MAC Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said after the agreement was reached on Saturday that the negotiation model for the Taiwan-Hong Kong air pact may be a reference for future cross-strait talks, especially regarding direct links.
She added, however, "Each negotiation is different. You have to consider every factor involved in the matter. Anything is possible as long as Taiwan and Beijing sit down to talk."
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
An exhibition celebrating Taiwan and Japan’s comic culture opened on Saturday in Taichung, featuring a section that explores Taiwanese reproductions of Japanese comics from when martial law limited Japanese representation. “A Century of Manga Culture: An Encounter of Taiwan and Japan’s Youth” held its Taiwan opening ceremony at Taichung’s National Taiwan Museum of Comics after an initial one-month run in Japan’s Kyoto International Manga Museum between May 24 and June 24. Much like the Kyoto exhibition, the show mainly celebrates the comic connection between Taiwan and Japan through late Taiwanese comic book
RSS