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Ma talks up cross-strait negotiations

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday assured the public that talks on further direct cross-strait transportation would bear fruit next month, in an attempt to boost confidence in the administration’s efforts to improve the economy.

The Straits Exchange Foundation and its Chinese counterpart, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, are scheduled to meet in Taipei next month for a second round of talks.

During the first round of negotiations in June, both sides agreed to begin direct weekend charter flights in July and increase the number of Chinese tourists allowed to visit Taiwan.

Ma yesterday said follow-up talks were under way and that if everything went well, concrete results could be expected next month.

Topping the agenda are shorter aviation routes, cargo flights and direct sea transportation, he said.

Ma made the remarks while hosting a dinner banquet for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators at the Taipei Guest House with Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) yesterday.

Ma said cross-strait transportation was not yet ideal, but would be improved if the three priorities were successfully addressed.

“It does not make sense to spend an extra hour flying to Hong Kong before traveling anywhere else in China,” Ma said.

Ma said many people have to fly to Hong Kong because there were insufficient cross-strait tickets.

However, the problem would soon be resolved, he said, because the administration had been working hard on it.

Ma emphasized that a series of deregulations and liberalizations were not aimed at encouraging Taiwanese businesspeople to invest in China, but at making Taiwan’s investment and management environment freer and more attractive to foreign investors and local businesspeople.

Despite the economic downturn, Ma said it was a good opportunity to push reform. The nation would rise up again when the economy improved, he said.

Ma also complimented the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) for rejecting a proposal that would allow Taiwanese nationals to assume party positions in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

China-based Taiwanese businesspeople on Tuesday requested that MAC Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) make such an allowance. The council issued a statement yesterday saying that after a study of China’s Constitution and legislation, it had concluded that it was inappropriate.

The statement said that because party positions were political appointments and concerned Beijing’s “united front” strategy, it was contrary to the nation’s laws and regulations to allow Taiwanese nationals to assume party positions in the CCP.

Speaking about the toxic milk powder imported from China, Ma praised the way the Department of Health had handled the matter, saying it had been “appropriate.”
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