Upon his arrival in Yokohama yesterday afternoon as President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) envoy to the APEC summit, former vice president Lien Chan (連戰) remained tight-lipped on the timing and nature of his expected meeting with China’s president.
Lien arrived at his hotel at about 2pm after being greeted by members of the Taiwanese delegation and officials from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO).
Although reporters were eager to find out when he would meet Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) and what topics they would discuss, Lien was evasive.
Photo: CNA
“I will tell everyone about it later,” he said.
Hours later, Lien turned up at the press room for a “chat” with Taiwanese reporters, but still declined to give details about his meeting with Hu.
“You will not miss it [the meeting], I assure you,” he said.
Asked if the meeting would take place tomorrow or Sunday, Lien said that “it would be a while” before the meeting took place.
Hu is scheduled to arrive tomorrow, while the summit will end on Sunday.
Lien told reporters they would be notified prior to the meeting.
On what he would discuss with Hu during the meeting, Lien said: “Well, let me think about it.”
“What’s most important is that we can meet and have exchanges on opinions and friendship,” he said.
Aside from meeting Hu, Lien said he would also sit down with members of the Japanese delegation — either at a public venue or privately — during his stay in Yokohama.
Because of opposition from Beijing, Ma and his predecessors have been unable to attend APEC summits.
As Ma’s envoy, Lien received the same degree of courtesy as national leaders upon his arrival. However, a brief welcome ceremony for Lien near the hotel by the Taiwanese community in Japan was cancelled a day before his arrival.
TECRO news division director Chu Wen-ching (朱文清) said that although the host had agreed to the event, “the local Kanagawa Prefecture Police voiced their concern that it might jeopardize security if every [APEC member] economy wanted to have such arrangements.”
Lien said he respected the decisions of the host country and was very satisfied with the organizer’s arrival arrangements.
In a separate setting, Minister of Finance Lee Sush-der (李述德) and Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) voiced their support for closer cross-strait trade relations under the APEC framework and vowed to continue to develop closer economic ties with Japan.
“It’s very good for the leaders of the economies to communicate and interact under the APEC framework and we’re looking forward to a good meeting [between Lien and Hu],” Lee said.
For his part, Shih said Japan has always been — and would continue to be — one of Taiwan’s most important trade partners.
“Whether we look at if from the perspective of trade, investment, technological cooperation or tourism, Japan and Taiwan are very important trading partners,” he said.
“Taiwan sincerely hopes to develop any kind of economic and trade cooperation” with Japan, he added.
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