Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said yesterday that the time was not ripe for entering into negotiations on signing a cross-strait peace accord.
“I think there's still a long way to go [before we can reach an agreement]. I hope both sides can continue their efforts to pursue steady progress. Now is not the time we can easily talk about it,” Wu said during an interview with local media.
Wu also set three conditions before cross-strait peace talks could commence: China should give Taiwan more international space; it should remove missiles targeted at Taiwan; and it should face up to and respect the reality that both sides of the Strait are ruled separately.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had previously suggested that a peace accord be inked with China during his term in office, but recently said it was not a government priority at this stage.
The Chinese side, however, has been active on pushing the agenda, with former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (連戰), who attended the APEC summit in Singapore last week as Ma's envoy, saying that Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) talked to him about the importance of signing a cross-strait peace accord.
Wu said yesterday that both sides should first build up mutual trust and be more cordial toward each other, especially in terms of giving Taiwan international space.
He said that in the five-point communique Hu signed with Lien in 2005, it states that Taiwan and China should exchange opinions and negotiate Taiwan's participation in international affairs. He added that both sides should start talks on the issue of Taiwan's international space following the discussion of many economic subjects in the past year.
China should also do something about the missiles aimed at Taiwan as a demonstration of its goodwill and to earn the trust of Taiwanese, Wu said.
“[China] should make some concrete moves,” he said. “For example, it needs to remove some [of the missiles] or at least move them back,” he said.
Wu said that only when trust and goodwill had been built would the time be ripe for a peace accord negotiation.
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