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No trip to China by month’s end for SEF’s Chiang

Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) chairman-designate Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) denied yesterday he would visit China by the end of this month for talks on major cross-strait issues. He said, however, that he intended to travel to China before May 20 in his capacity as Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) vice chairman to thank China-based Taiwanese businesspeople for their support.

After president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) announced on Monday that he would be appointed chairman of the SEF, Chiang said he would soon travel to China for talks on major cross-strait issues such as direct cross-strait transportation links, yuan and New Taiwan dollar convertibility and the opening of Taiwan to Chinese tourists.

The 76-year-old former minister of economic affairs and vice Legislative Yuan speaker said his family was not very supportive of his heading the SEF, a semi-official body set up by Taipei to handle cross-strait exchanges in the absence of formal relations.

But Chiang said he gladly accepted the offer to serve as the top negotiator with China, especially after former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) expressed his support for Chiang the previous day.

KMT Legislator Lee Chia-chin (李嘉進) said Monday that Chiang hoped to reach an agreement or “tacit understanding” with Beijing on major cross-strait issues during his visit.

“But the signing of a formal agreement will have to wait until after May 20,” Lee said.

Reports have said that Chen Yunlin (陳雲林), director of the State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office, would be designated chairman of the Beijing-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), the SEF’s Chinese counterpart.

Meanwhile, premier-designate Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) remained tight-lipped yesterday on the lineup of the incoming Cabinet.

Approached by reporters on his way to the KMT headquarters yesterday morning, Liu refused to comment on the matter, adding that he would make the list of candidates public as soon as possible.

Liu had previously said that the matter of Cabinet personnel would be settled by the end of this month.

“We do not have a timetable,” he said yesterday, while declining to comment on how many candidates had been assigned or how many female chiefs the Cabinet would recruit.

Liu also visited Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) later yesterday, seeking advice from Wang as well as KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄). He dismissed media speculation that the meeting was related to Cabinet personnel matters.

He also shrugged off speculation that he had visited Wu to recruit certain party officials to the Cabinet.

Several KMT officials are rumored to have been included in the new administration, including KMT Secretary-General Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), who it is believed will be the next secretary-general of the Presidential Office, KMT Organization and Development Committee director Liao Fung-te (廖風德), who reports said would take over the Ministry of the Interior, and KMT Administration and Management Committee director-general Chang Che-shen (張哲琛), who is rumored to be headed for the Executive Yuan’s Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics.


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