A senior Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) official said yesterday that the government will not send any approved representatives to proposed talks in China on fruit exports on July 27, because Beijing is still refusing to deal exclusively with the group that Taipei has designated to conduct the talks. The official, who requested anonymity, said there was still a gap between China and Taiwan's expectations on fruit talks.
The decision ends any chance that the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), which on June 13 was designated by Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) to negotiate the terms of exporting Taiwanese fruit to China, will participate in the talks. TAITRA was tapped for that role after Beijing offered tariff-free entry for Taiwanese fruit.
A Chinese official on Saturday for the first time indicated via a news report that Beijing would deal with TAITRA officials, but only as part of a broader Taiwanese negotiating team -- terms that are unacceptable to the MAC. Another high-ranking MAC official yesterday urged the Beijing government to not interfere in the composition of Taiwan's negotiating team.
China's Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday that Beijing "welcomed" the local officially authorized agency -- without mentioning TAITRA by name -- as a participant in the talks. Li Shui-lin (
Reacting to that report, the MAC official said "There is still a significant difference between Li's position and ours. TAITRA is the only agency authorized by the government, and not other groups. If China insists on designating the groups that can be included on our negotiation team, we won't attend the negotiations they plan to hold on July 27."
"Taiwan would like to talk with CETEA; likewise, we wish that the Chinese government would accept TAITRA," the official said.
"We should respect each other. Each government should have 100 percent power to determine its team for any kind of negotiations," the official said.
"Would it be possible to make sure that our negotiation team upholds Taiwan's and not China's interests in the talks if the team is composed according to the Chinese government's suggestion?" the official said.
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