Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Deputy Minister Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) yesterday said that the government is considering further exchanges with China through an amendment to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) and the establishment of reciprocal representative offices.
The government is reviewing the act with a view to deepening and strengthening cross-strait exchanges, Chang said at a forum on China’s new leadership.
Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation and China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits have agreed to set up reciprocal offices to offer more comprehensive services on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, he added.
China is expected to further promote reforms and Chang said he would be pleased to see such developments and hopes that Taiwan can play an active role in advancing cross-strait relations.
At the forum, Su Chi (蘇起), former secretary-general of the National Security Council, said China’s new leaders are highly self-confident, which is reflected in their policy on Taiwan.
In contrast, Taiwan’s economic power is declining and it is locked in a domestic political stalemate, which could lead to passivity in cross-strait relations, Su said.
China’s dominance in formulating the terms of cross-strait relations is expected to continue over the next five years, he added.
Su suggested Taipei push for political dialogue with China, between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), and between the DPP and China.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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