The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it did not know what was delaying three planned financial memorandums of understanding (MOU) with China, but rejected the possibility that Beijing would use it as a bargaining chip to demand something in return.
MAC Deputy Minister Liu Te-shun (劉德勳) said he did not think Beijing would use the three MOUs as bargaining chips because they are normal for many countries, although it is the first time that Taipei and Beijing have decided to sign such a document.
“I have not heard of any external factors [to delay the MOUs],” Liu said.
“Because the MOUs are simple in nature, it would be strange to use them as an apparatus to demand something else,” he said.
Liu said he did not know exactly what had stalled the process of signing the three financial MOUs, but that the council hoped they would be signed soon.
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said it expected to sign the three MOUs in July. Liu said he was “quite surprised” when he heard that the FSC had made such an announcement.
Liu said that while the FSC did not report to his council on a daily basis, MAC officials were regularly informed of the MOUs’ progress.
The last time his council had heard from the FSC was at the end of last month when the commission said “things were pretty much ready,” Liu said.
Both sides signed an agreement in June this year on financial cooperation, which will be followed by signing three financial MOUs on banking, insurance and securities and futures.
Liu said that because financial MOUs were highly professional and technical in nature, they did not concern politics. If Beijing had wanted to politicize the issue, it would have done so when the agreement was signed in June, he said.
The next round of cross-strait high-level talks will be held in Taichung in mid or late December.
Liu said a security task force had been established to ensure the safety of 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).
Activists staged protests against Chen’s visit at the Grand Formosa Regent Hotel when he attended the second Chiang-Chen meeting in Taipei in November last year. He was there to attend a dinner hosted by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Because Chiang did not meet Chinese Communist Party Chairman Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) during the third Chiang-Chen meeting in Nanjing in June, Liu said he did not expect Chen to meet President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who doubles as KMT chairman.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
RSS