A Chinese official yesterday urged Taipei and Beijing to seek more common ground rather than focusing on disagreements to resolve differences. The official, however, denied that the remarks were aimed at the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) chief, who last week urged Beijing to abolish policies and laws concerning military deployments against Taiwan.
Assistant Minister of the Taiwan Affairs Office Li Yafei (李亞飛) said that both sides of the Taiwan Strait should put aside disputes and create a win-win scenario.
“Putting aside differences means making an effort to find a common ground, rather than picking out contrarieties,” he said.
PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
“The first step to achieving this goal is to accumulate mutual trust,” he said, adding that mutual trust could be established by “jointly opposing Taiwanese independence.”
Li made the remarks while visiting Straits Exchange Foundation Vice Chairman Kao Koong-lian (高孔廉) yesterday afternoon.
Asked what he meant by “picking out contrarieties,” Li downplayed his comment, saying he meant to stress that both sides must work in concert to maintain sound mutual trust and peaceful development.
“My comment wasn’t directed at anything. It’s nothing special,” he said.
Li’s comment was the first official response from Beijing after Mainland Affairs Council Minister Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) last week urged Beijing to abolish “policies and laws” on military deployments targeting Taiwan.
While giving a speech at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington on Wednesday last week, Lai said China’s military buildup and its “policy of taking Taiwan by force” were obstacles that must be removed if cross-strait relations were to move forward.
While Lai stopped short of mentioning China’s “Anti-Secession” Law, Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Liu Te-shun (劉德勳) in Taipei on Thursday last week called on China to review the law, which he described as “something unnecessary” in cross-strait relations.
Lai later denied that China had played a role in her cancellation of a speech scheduled on Saturday in Los Angeles. The last-minute change of plan prompted speculation that China had pressured her to cancel the speech after her remarks.
While Lai also said that the timing and conditions were not ripe for military or political negotiations, Li yesterday said the two sides did not necessarily have to resolve all the problems at the moment.
However, if both sides felt the need for talks to advance developments in bilateral ties, cross-strait problems would “naturally” be resolved, he said.
Over the past two years, the two sides have laid a sound foundation for economic cooperation and exchanges under the so-called “1992 consensus” and opposition to Taiwanese independence, he said.
Li said the “1992 consensus” was a “verbal consensus reached by the SEF and the ARATS [Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait] in 1992 that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait insist on the ‘one China principle.’”
The Taiwanese government, however, maintains that the so-called “1992 consensus” posits that the two sides “agree to disagree” on the meaning of “one China.”
Since Taipei and Beijing signed the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) in June, cross-strait exchanges would move from economic matters to culture, education and healthcare, Li said.
Li, who arrived on Tuesday for a three-day visit, also took part in a cross-strait wealth-creation forum held by the Want Want China Times Group.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
An exhibition celebrating Taiwan and Japan’s comic culture opened on Saturday in Taichung, featuring a section that explores Taiwanese reproductions of Japanese comics from when martial law limited Japanese representation. “A Century of Manga Culture: An Encounter of Taiwan and Japan’s Youth” held its Taiwan opening ceremony at Taichung’s National Taiwan Museum of Comics after an initial one-month run in Japan’s Kyoto International Manga Museum between May 24 and June 24. Much like the Kyoto exhibition, the show mainly celebrates the comic connection between Taiwan and Japan through late Taiwanese comic book
RSS