The Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said that it would prefer to choose Chinese cities where most Taiwanese businesspeople and students congregate as sites for its China offices.
“The purpose of establishing reciprocal offices between Taiwan and China is to provide services,” foundation Chairman Lin Join-sane (林中森) said on Wednesday, explaining why metropolitan cities were more suitable from Taiwan’s point of view.
The foundation and its Chinese counterpart, the Association for Relations across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), are discussing procedures for implementing a consensus on setting up reciprocal offices, Lin said.
Talks on the issue will be carried out in the near future to finalize the details, he said.
The opening of SEF-ARATS offices is in line with President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) China policy and is aimed at enhancing cross-strait ties.
However, further amendments to a statute on exchanges between Taiwan and China are needed before Taipei can meet such a goal.
Lin said authorities are reviewing the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), which governs legal matters between people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
In other matters, Lin said Taiwan and China are in the final stages of sealing a cooperation agreement in the service industry.
The pact, which is part of the follow-up negotiations to the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement that the two sides signed in 2010, is expected to be concluded soon, although several details still have to be hammered out, he said.
The foundation will make sure that the agreement conforms to the best interests of Taiwanese, Lin said.
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