The Presidential Office on Thursday night issued a statement lauding China for not attempting to stop the country’s bid to pursue an economic agreement with Singapore.
Taiwan and Singapore said earlier in the day that they had agreed to explore the feasibility of striking an trade pact.
“We would like to praise China for respecting Taiwan’s move to pursue an economic cooperation agreement with Singapore under the framework of the WTO,” Presidential Office Spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said.
“It’s a practical move that is not only in line with the interests of Taiwan, but is also helpful to building peace and co-prosperity on both sides of the Taiwan Strait,” he said.
“China has demonstrated its sincerity and respect with regard to Taiwan’s trade pact initiative, a move that will contribute to cross-strait peace and prosperity,” Lo said.
Trade was Taiwan’s lifeline, Lo said, and it would continue to seek economic pacts with its trade partners under the framework of the WTO and to be a part of the regional economic integration process to sharpen its competitive edge.
In response to the news that Taiwan and Singapore were mulling a bilateral economic cooperation agreement, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office issued a statement on Thursday through Xinhua news agency, which said: “We believe Singapore will continue to stick to the ‘one China’ policy, and thus properly handle economic and trade relations with Taiwan.”
In related developments, Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) yesterday denied a local media report that said President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) would make a transit stop in Singapore to meet with high-level officials while en route to visit allies in Africa in January.
Yang said his ministry has not yet finalized Ma’s overseas travel plans for the coming year. However, a visit next year to Africa, where Ma has not been since assuming office in May 2008, would be “good timing,” he said, without elaborating.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SHIH HSIU-CHUAN
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