The Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) yesterday downplayed the fact that Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) beat the SEF by one day in announcing that a preparatory meeting for the upcoming cross-strait high-level talks would be held on Saturday.
SEF Deputy Secretary-General Maa Shaw-chang (馬紹章) laughed after reporters asked him whether they had been surprised by Lai’s announcement on Tuesday.
In an attempt to smooth things over, Maa said they had originally planned to make the announcement yesterday.
While China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) did not confirm Lai’s announcement, Maa yesterday said the TAO had said it would “carefully consider and study” the proposal.
Maa said that Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Deputy Chairman Zheng Lizhong (鄭立中) was scheduled to lead a delegation of about 20 officials that is scheduled to arrive in Taipei tomorrow afternoon.
Maa said every effort would be made to keep the visit safe, comfortable, dignified and smooth.
The preparatory meeting will discuss the time, place and agenda for the upcoming meeting between SEF Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) and his counterpart, ARATS Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林).
They are also expected to discuss the content of the three agreements both sides plan to sign during the Chiang-Chen meeting as well as a joint statement about Chinese investment in the local market.
Maa said the details of the preparatory meeting would be made public if both sides reached an agreement.
The delegation is scheduled to leave on Sunday.
While the upcoming meeting is scheduled for next month or in June, Lai said it would be held sooner rather than later if both sides could reach a consensus.
Maa yesterday echoed comments by the TAO, saying that both sides were aiming for the Chiang-Chen meeting to be held at the end of this month or at the beginning of next month.
As both sides agreed at their last meeting that the next one would be held outside Beijing, Taipei has proposed that it be held in Nanjing.
Ma yesterday said the meeting would likely last five days, with talks between Chiang and Chen scheduled for the second day. Chiang was scheduled to visit Taiwanese businesspeople on the third and fourth days before he and his delegation return home the following day.
Recent reports have speculated that Ma was seeking to replace Wu as party chief, while Wu would replace Chiang at the SEF.
Meanwhile, amid speculation that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) would take over the SEF after being replaced by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), a KMT legislator close to Chiang said yesterday that Chiang was very disappointed to be involved in a party power struggle.
KMT Legislator Lee Chia-chin (李嘉進), who spoke to Chiang on Tuesday, told reporters in the legislature that Chiang was also saddened by media allegations that Chiang’s son had obtained a special permit from China to sell steel.
Lee said the controversy was fueled by “a well-organized group of people within the party” who did not want to see warming cross-strait relations, without giving names.
While meeting Wu at party headquarters on Tuesday, Ma said he would not make a final decision about the chairmanship until June, but did not deny the possibility that he could run in the election scheduled to be held in July.
The possibility had drawn criticism from the Democratic Progressive Party and a number of KMT lawmakers.
Lee said that if Ma was interested in the position, he should have dealt with the matter “more delicately.”
Lee urged Ma to consider Chiang for premier, saying that Chiang would devote himself to serving the president.
Meanwhile, KMT Vice Chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) dismissed a report by the Chinese-language China Times that said Wu Poh-hsiung had promised he would hand over the chairmanship to Ma “peacefully.”
Wu Den-yih told reporters in the legislature that the speculation was fueled by “elements outside the KMT.”
‘UPHOLDING PEACE’: Taiwan’s foreign minister thanked the US Congress for using a ‘creative and effective way’ to deter Chinese military aggression toward the nation The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, aimed at deterring Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by threatening to publish information about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials’ “illicit” financial assets if Beijing were to attack. The act would also “restrict financial services for certain immediate family of such officials,” the text of the legislation says. The bill was introduced in January last year by US representatives French Hill and Brad Sherman. After remarks from several members, it passed unanimously. “If China chooses to attack the free people of Taiwan, [the bill] requires the Treasury secretary to publish the illicit
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
A senior US military official yesterday warned his Chinese counterpart against Beijing’s “dangerous” moves in the South China Sea during the first talks of their kind between the commanders. Washington and Beijing remain at odds on issues from trade to the status of Taiwan and China’s increasingly assertive approach in disputed maritime regions, but they have sought to re-establish regular military-to-military talks in a bid to prevent flashpoint disputes from spinning out of control. Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, and Wu Yanan (吳亞男), head of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command, talked via videoconference. Paparo “underscored the importance
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
RSS