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Taiwan will stick to original schedule for ECFA meetings

The Presidential Office said yesterday that the government would stick to its plan after China yesterday offered to start talks on an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) “as early as possible.”

The response came after China’s state media reported yesterday that Beijing planned to launch official discussions for closer economic cooperation with Taiwan before the end of the year.

“We are willing to negotiate with Taiwan and launch official discussions on a cross-strait economic cooperation agreement ... as early as possible before the year’s end,” Taiwan Affairs Office chief Wang Yi (王毅) was quoted by Xinhua news agency as saying.

Wang said talks could take place between the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait and the Straits Exchange Foundation “if both sides consider it necessary.”

Asked whether ECFA talks could be moved forward, Presidential Office Spokesperson Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said the government would proceed according to plan on ECFA talks with China in the hope that the two sides would build peace together.

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said during his speech marking the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Kuningtou that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait should substitute peace for opposition and take advantage of cross-strait talks to build peace, adding that this viewpoint had not changed, Wang Yu-chi said.

The next round of talks would be held in Taichung in mid or late December, the fourth round of meetings since last year.

Speaking during a cross-strait symposium in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, Wang Yi said Beijing was willing to “further interact with Taiwan to solve problems concerning cross-strait economic exchanges and push the economic relations between the two sides to a new level.”
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