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Government hopes for representative office across Strait

Taiwan would like to open a representative office in China to handle a variety of matters arising from increased exchanges between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait and wants Beijing to reciprocate, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Deputy Chairman Liu Te-shun (劉德勳) said yesterday.

Liu made the remarks after President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) suggested that Taiwan and China consider exchanging offices.

If the proposal is carried out, it will be the most significant development yet in cross-strait relations, Liu said.

Liu said in an interview yesterday that the MAC had prepared for a wide range of potential developments in cross-strait ties, including the reciprocal establishment of representative offices.

At the first round of talks last June between Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) and his Chinese counterpart, Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林), China proposed opening offices on each side of the Strait to handle visa issues. The proposal was later shelved, Liu said, because the timing wasn’t right.

Last month, at the third round of talks, the two sides signed nine agreements covering regular cross-strait flights, joint crime-fighting and financial cooperation.

The agreements also touched on plans for various government authorities to establish communication platforms with their counterparts in China, Liu said.

As a result, the premier said, it should not be a problem for the two sides to handle issues through offices authorized to deal with challenges that could emerge as cross-strait exchanges increase.
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