The Presidential Office on Thursday dismissed criticism that President Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) inaugural address shunned the sovereignty issue, saying that Taiwan needed economic development in order to have power, and then sovereignty.
A high-ranking official of the Presidential Office, who asked to remain anonymous, said he could not agree with Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) assertion that Ma dodged the issue of sovereignty in his inaugural address.
“Where is sovereignty and dignity if we don’t have security and power?” the official said. “As long as both sides cooperate, economic prosperity will come and then it will lead to security.”
Tsai lambasted Ma for failing to mention in his inaugural speech that the people of Taiwan should have the final say on the country’s future.
Commenting on the resumption of talks between both sides’ quasi-official negotiation agencies next week, the official said it signified the end of the “Macau negotiation model” and the beginning of negotiations between Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS).
The “Macau negotiation model” refers to negotiations conducted by private organizations commissioned by the government. In the future, negotiations will be conducted by SEF and ARATS, the official said.
He said he believed that a weekend charter flight service will become a reality next month but that cargo flights may have to wait until SEF and ARATS meet again.
He emphasized that the pace of implementation of direct transportation links and other cross-strait exchanges must not be hasty.
He also said he was optimistic about the visit of ARATS Director Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) in the second half of this year.
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