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US will not `co-manage' cross-strait ties

The US hopes for a peaceful development of cross-strait relations, but it will not "take ownership of the problem," which should be resolved peacefully by Taiwan and China, a senior US State Department official said on Thursday.

Stressing that peaceful cross-strait relations were in the US' interest, the US official, who declined to be named, said that it was an issue which must be settled by the two sides of the strait through exchanges and dialogue.

Washington would only ask Taiwan and China to hold direct talks and peacefully mend their ties in compliance with the Taiwan Relations Act, but would not "co-manage" cross-strait affairs as Chinese Premier Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) proposed in a speech given in New York last September, he said.

Since Hu's speech, US and Chinese leaders had met several times, but the so-called "co-management" of cross-strait affairs have not happened because the US is not entitled to speak for the Taiwanese public, he said.

More tourist and charter flight exchanges would help boost mutual understanding and bolster peace across the Taiwan Strait, the US official said.

He added that he believed Chinese tourists would be able to visit Taiwan soon as the two sides had agreed to open special charter flight services across the Taiwan Strait.

Pointing to Hong Kong as an example, he said that time had proven that opening the territory to Chinese tourists was mutually beneficial.

Taiwan and China should also step up bilateral economic and technical exchanges, and US firms operating in Taiwan were keenly hoping for an easing of restrictions on cross-strait economic exchanges and the establishment of direct transport links between the two sides, he said.

He added that this was something that serves US interests and helps US businesses in Taiwan explore their maximum potential.
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