The Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), Taiwan's semi-official body that deals with China which has been highly successful since its creation a decade ago, may not be able to live up to its past glories again, analysts said yesterday.
The increasingly complex nature of cross-strait ties, they said, have made the SEF less relevant, a tendency that is complicated by Beijing's attempts to marginalize the DPP-led government.
"Beijing, eager to settle the sovereignty feud, is seeking to downplay the relevance of the SEF," said Pan His-tang (
The SEF, set up by the former KMT administration to mediate disputes arising from exchanges between private citizens on both sides, is not in a position to address political issues, Pan noted.
As such, the SEF in its contact with its Chinese counterpart, the Association for Relations across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), has staved off any invitation to political dialogue, Pan said.
The Taipei-based intermediary body carried out a total of 22 talks with its Beijing equivalent in the last 10 years that culminated in two meetings in 1994 and 1998 between Koo Chen-fu (
After former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) characterized cross-strait relations as "state-to-state" in nature, Beijing refused to continue negotiations with Taiwan, Pan said.
In a policy paper released days before the 2000 presidential election, China threatened the use of force against Taiwan if it dodges unification talks indefinitely.
Suspicious of the pro-independence clause enshrined in the DPP platform, Beijing has ignored overtures offered by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
The ensuing war of words following the state-to-state remark has marginalized the SEF, although the Chen administration reiterated as recently as Friday that it remained the sole agency to mediate cross-strait affairs on Taiwan's behalf.
Shaw Chong-hai (
"In the absence of cross-strait dialogue, the SEF cannot act in the way it was designed to," Shaw said, linking the dilemma to the "one China" row.
Seeking to box in Chen, once a vocal supporter of Taiwan independence, Chinese leaders have made it clear that no dialogue may take place before the DPP government recognizes the "one China" principle.
Chinese society, rigid and dogmatic, would not tolerate its leaders backing down on such an important issue, Shaw said.
"Even signs of vacillation may cost them their leadership in government," Shaw added.
Chen, on the other hand, has said he would only treat the "one China" claim as a subject to be discussed on the negotiating table. While willing to mute his pro-independence rhetoric, he insists that the 23 million people of Taiwan must have the final say on the country's destiny.
"The series of concessions Chen has made thus far are seen by China as little more than cosmetic," Shaw said.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary