In light of the recent trip to China by some Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials, the government yesterday took measures to hold semi-official negotiations on the details of cross-strait charter flights for the upcoming Lunar New Year with Beijing, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in a press release yesterday.
"Authorities on both sides of the Taiwan Strait understand that cross-strait charter flights will depend on negotiations between government-authorized representatives," the statement said, explicitly taking moves to hold China to semi-official negotiations for the first time since the government announced its willingness to see direct, round trip flights by both Taiwanese and Chinese airline carriers.
Both governments had previously given the green light to discussing the details of the charter flights in accordance with the recently dubbed "Hong Kong model." Under this model, business representatives from both Taiwan and China hold talks while the government is given a supervisory role.
The council's calls for semi-official negotiations comes just one day after Beijing's top cross-strait policymaker Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) director Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) extended an invitation to the Taipei Airlines Association to discuss charter flights for the holiday. The association was officially authorized by the government to conduct negotiations with Chinese authorities last month.
While the MAC has been tight-lipped regarding the charter flights, the statement issued yesterday seemed geared towards preventing the opposition party, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), from stealing the government's thunder.
The KMT sent a delegation to Beijing last week and on Monday held a press conference in Beijing announcing the breakthroughs they had attained while meeting with Chen. The delegation had not been officially authorized by the government to handle cross-strait charter flights.
While the statement states the MAC's gratitude to the KMT delegation, it stressed that talks had to be conducted by authorized representatives.
MAC Vice Chairman Chiu Tai-san (
"In order for sincerity and good will to translate into actual results, there needs to be semi-official talks. China knows that we've authorized the Taipei Airlines Association ... as a result, even if someone talks a big game, I think everyone knows whether it is meaningful or not," Chiu said without naming the KMT specifically.
The council also reiterated yesterday that it had long been ready and willing to cooperate on direct, reciprocal flights, and that it had already approved the establishing of new routes if necessary.
The KMT delegation on Monday said that at its proposal, China had indicated a willingness to forge air links between Taiwan and Beijing, Xiamen, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou.
The one-time success of cross-strait charter flights in February 2003 involved indirect flights between Taiwan and Shanghai only.
The charter flights have in recent years come under public scrutiny as a service to the half million taishang, or China-based Taiwanese businesspeople, who return home for the holidays, but the flights have taken on important political significance as both an indicator of the state of cross-strait ties and as a forerunner for long term direct passenger and cargo flights.
LOUD AND PROUD Taiwan might have taken a drubbing against Australia and Japan, but you might not know it from the enthusiasm and numbers of the fans Taiwan might not be expected to win the World Baseball Classic (WBC) but their fans are making their presence felt in Tokyo, with tens of thousands decked out in the team’s blue, blowing horns and singing songs. Taiwanese fans have packed out the Tokyo Dome for all three of their games so far and even threatened to drown out home team supporters when their team played Japan on Friday. They blew trumpets, chanted for their favorite players and had their own cheerleading squad who dance on a stage during the game. The team struggled to match that exuberance on the field, with
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
A Taiwanese man apologized on Friday after saying in a social media post that he worked with Australia to provide scouting reports on Taiwan’s team, enabling Australia’s victory in this year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC), saying it was a joke and that he did not hold any position with foreign teams or Taiwan’s sports training center. Chen Po-hao (陳柏豪) drew the rage of many Taiwan baseball fans when he posted online on Thursday night, claiming credit for Australia’s 3-0 win over Taiwan in the opening game for Pool C, saying he worked as a physical therapist with the national team and
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
RSS