Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Lin Join-sane (林中森) yesterday arrived in Fuzhou, China, for the latest round of high-level meetings with his Chinese counterpart, Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits Chairman Chen Deming (陳德銘).
Lin and his delegation were greeted by Chen at the hotel at which they are staying.
The formal talks began later yesterday.
Photo: CNA
The main items on the agenda of the talks are framework agreements on the avoidance of double taxation and aviation safety, which are expected to be signed this afternoon.
When greeting Lin, Chen said the two sides would also discuss allowing Chinese air passengers the right to transit through Taiwan and making cross-strait transport links more convenient.
Lin said trade and economic interactions have grown more intense as the number of cross-strait flights have increased, making the agreements particularly important to people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Before leaving Taiwan yesterday, Lin said that eliminating double taxation would help Taiwanese businesses and people in China from having the same income taxed twice, as well as encourage Chinese investment in Taiwan.
The aviation safety agreement would help improve flight safety and punctuality, an urgent issue, as the number of flights between Taiwan and China is set to increase to 890 per week from Oct. 1, Lin said.
The two agreements would bring the total number of agreements signed by Taiwan and China since 2008 — when the cross-strait impasse began to thaw — to 23.
As for a much-anticipated agreement that would allow Chinese travelers on international flights to transit through Taiwan, Lin said he hoped that it could be signed by the end of the year.
Taiwan had hoped that the agreement would be signed at the current meeting, but it was postponed because the two sides could not bridge their differences in time.
Lin said the proposed deal would not only benefit Taiwan but also China, because it would offer Chinese travelers a new transit option and help ease the pressure on Chinese airports due to increasing transit demand.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
RSS