Print

Mail

wiki links

SEF chief says arms are key to stability

Ketagelan Academy president Lee Hung-hsi, left, yesterday introduces Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Chang Chun-hsiung, right, to the academy's students before Chang gave a speech on the outlook for cross-strait relations. PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES

Speaking about the outlook of cross-strait relations, a top cross-strait affairs official said yesterday that it is imperative to pass the NT$480 billion (US$15.24 billion) US special arms procurement budget to ensure regional stability.

Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) made the remarks while giving a speech to the members of a group of "female leaders in public affairs" from the Ketagelan Institute.

China has employed a "soft strategy" when dealing with Taiwan, but it has not abandoned the use of military force against Taiwan, Chang said. Measures such as tariff exemptions on 15 varieties of Taiwanese fruits, and a willingness to lift a ban on Chinese tourists visiting Taiwan, are all part of this soft strategy, he said.

This strategy proves that China's overall attitude toward cross-strait relations in recent years has become more flexible, Chang said.

"China adopted the soft strategy because it wants to influence Taiwan's presidential election in 2008. It's a big challenge we have to face," he continued.

Chang said that the government's position in handling the cross-strait relationship is to stick to the principle of "reconciliation." He, however, said that it is difficult to establish a mechanism to create mutual trust between both sides of the Strait.

He then called upon the Legislature to pass the special arms procurement budget bill, which he said is necessary to maintain the cross-strait status quo and peace.

The SEF is a quasi-official body set up to deal with cross-strait relations in the absence of official ties between the two sides of the Strait. Chang, former premier and former secretary-general of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), was appointed this January by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), to lead the SEF.

Taiwan and China have held a series of unofficial exchanges after talks between Koo Chen-fu (辜振甫), the former SEF chairman, and Wang Daohan (汪道涵), the chairman of the Beijing-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), in 1993.

The original function of the SEF and ARATS was to serve as "white glove" -- or official in everything but name -- operations for cross-strait contacts. But the two associations broke off exchanges in 1999 after President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) declared that a "special state-to-state relationship" existed between Taiwan and China, this function has now nearly vanished.

"Although the functions of the SEF and ARATS were forced to stop in 1999, we still hope that bilateral talks can proceed withon issues beneficial to people on both sides," Chang said.
This story has been viewed 2039 times.