In response to claims from Chinese officials that Taiwan's proposal for negotiations on direct chartered flights was unclear, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said the perceived ambiguity actually stemmed from their "problems of heart."
"The reason for the ambiguity is not because of problems with their eyes or ears, but with their hearts," MAC Vice Chairman and spokesman Chiu Tai-san (
The MAC last week extended an invitation to negotiate on the possibility of allowing direct chartered flights between Taiwan and China for the upcoming Lunar New Year next February.
Indirect chartered flight service making stopovers in Hong Kong and Macau were implemented for the first time two years ago. A similar proposal was passed up the following year due to the failure in negotiations.
China's Taiwan Affairs Office chief Chen Yunlin (
MAC Chairman Joseph Wu (
"We need to negotiate the details because this is not an existing route ? it takes negotiations for details to be worked out," Wu said yesterday during a press conference.
According to Wu, the MAC's move to consider the possibility of direct flights for the upcoming holiday was in response to conditions that China had set out for direct flights last year. China said direct flights were predicated on their planes being able to land in Taiwan, and that Taiwanese planes could not land in Hong Kong," Wu said, adding that the MAC was "taking it one step further and seeing if the Chinese side is sincere."
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