Taiwan and China “have reached a consensus” to not allow trade talks to be affected by the Sunflower movement or any dispute arising from the protests against the government’s handling of the cross-strait service trade pact, Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Lin Join-sane (林中森) said on Tuesday.
Negotiations on a cross-strait trade-in-goods agreement and a dispute settlement arrangement will “proceed as normal” and will be unaffected by the student-led movement that sprang up in March and ended in April, delaying the ratification of the already signed service pact and spawning a bill for monitoring cross-strait pacts, Lin said.
He made the remarks while speaking at the 12th joint meeting of the foundation’s eighth board of directors and supervisors.
Lin said the foundation and its cross-strait counterpart, China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, were to discuss several issues “in full swing” at their next high-level meeting, which would mark the 11th round of negotiations between the two bodies.
The meeting is to address issues including trade in goods, dispute settlement mechanisms, customs cooperation, double taxation avoidance, environmental protection, cooperation on flight safety standards and the establishment of reciprocal representative offices, Lin said.
Meanwhile, the foundation chairman called the unprecedented visit to Taiwan by Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) last month a “historic breakthrough” in cross-strait affairs.
He said the meeting between Zhang and his Taiwanese counterpart, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦), had generated progress in several issues, including Chinese travelers using Taiwan as a transit point, the nation’s participation in regional economic blocs and the reciprocal representative offices.
Consensus has been reached on these issues and “very soon, people from the two sides of the Taiwan Strait will be able to enjoy greater benefits,” Lin said.
According to Lin, from Sept. 2 to 5, a delegation consisting of Straits Exchange Foundation board directors and supervisors is to visit economic and technological development zones in China, as well as Taiwanese businesses operating there. The trip would see the delegation visit multiple places, including Hangzhou, Ningbo and Mount Putuo in Zhejiang Province, he added.
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