With less than three days to go before this weekend's APEC leaders' summit, the dispute over who will represent Taiwan at the meeting showed little of signs of coming to a resolution yesterday.
Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Hsin-yi (林信義) told his PRC counterpart Shi Guangsheng (石廣生) during their talk yesterday that former vice president Li Yuan-zu (李元簇) remains Taipei's top choice.
"I reiterated that the man we plan to send to the summit was the proper candidate," Lin said.
"And I told Shi to urge his government to agree to the envoy recommended by our side as soon as possible, so as to make this meeting a successful one."
China said on Monday Taiwan should submit an acceptable name to attend the summit in Shanghai, but Taiwan has stuck to its decision to send Li, a senior advisor to the president.
Lin remained wishy-washy when asked to describe Shih's response to his remarks. "The atmosphere was rather amicable," Lin said, describing the bilateral meeting with Shi that lasted for roughly 30 minutes.
In Taipei, reports said Li yesterday attended an APEC briefing at the Presidential Office.
The 78-year-old scholar and retired official received reports from the National Security Council, the foreign ministry and other government agencies on APEC-related issues.
Tomorrow was the original departure date for Taipei's envoy to the summit, even though the current deadlock shows no sign of coming to a resolution.
Shen Ssu-tsun (
Lawmakers from across partisan lines in Shanghai to observe the weeklong APEC meetings also expressed their views on the unsettled representation issue.
"We should take part in the summit with dignity. But if that can't be achieved, we should boycott the summit to voice our strong protest," DPP legislator Parris Chang (
KMT legislator Fan Yang-shang (
Zhu Banzao (朱邦造), a foreign ministry spokesman, yesterday urged Taipei to send someone else to attend the leaders summit.
Zhu said only ministers in charge of economic affairs from Taipei could attend the gathering.
Lin also urged his Chinese counterpart to establish consultation channels to discuss economic issues under the umbrella of the WTO after both sides are admitted into the multilateral trading system next year.
Lin yesterday also met his counterparts from Brunei, Singapore, New Zealand and Thailand to discuss economic issues, including Taiwan's approaching accession to the WTO.
The two-day APEC ministerial meeting begins today and culminates with the informal leaders' summit over the weekend.
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