Taipei and Beijing inked three agreements yesterday during the third round of cross-strait negotiations in China, agreeing to launch additional regular cross-strait passenger flights, establish a financial cooperation mechanism and join forces to combat crime.
Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) and his Chinese counterpart, Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) also signed a joint statement on opening Taiwan to Chinese investment after their meeting in Nanjing yesterday.
In his opening speech, Chen raised the issue of Taiwan’s proposed signing of an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China, but avoided mentioning the term, saying that the two sides should “establish a cooperation mechanism or framework on cross-strait economics.”
PHOTO: CNA
“The two sides should set up systemized regulations for economic development. I believe we will create a win-win situation that benefits both sides if we overcome difficulties hand in hand,” he said.
Chen said China would expand its purchases of Taiwanese products and push for Chinese companies to invest in Taiwan, while encouraging Taiwanese companies to invest in China.
Chiang echoed Chen’s remarks on the establishment of an economic cooperation mechanism, and urged China to help Taiwan gain more international space in seeking economic and trade cooperation with other countries.
“Taiwan not only needs to strengthen economic cooperation with mainland China, but also needs to join other major trade partners in regional economic cooperation,” Chiang said.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had instructed Chiang to raise the ECFA issue in his meeting with Chen. Ma has said that if Taiwan does not sign an ECFA with China, it risks being marginalized and losing its competitiveness because China and neighboring countries are planning to sign free-trade agreements.
Foundation spokesman Maa Shaw-chang (馬紹章) said Chiang and Chen agreed to start negotiations on the ECFA issue, but did not set a timetable.
The two men shook hands and exchanged gifts after signing the agreements, and Chiang invited Chen to visit Taiwan later this year to attend the fourth round of cross-strait negotiations.
The SEF and ARATS agreed to increase the number of scheduled cross-strait flights from 108 weekly flights to 270 and add six more Chinese destinations.
The financial cooperation pact will allow financial organizations to set up offices on each side, and the two sides will also work together on currency management.
On cross-strait crime fighting, the pact includes white-collar criminals on the list of those eligible for repatriation, allows the two sides to help each other by providing evidence and making it possible for Taiwan to repatriate fugitives such as former Tuntex Group chairman Chen Yu-hao (陳由豪) and former legislative speaker Liu Sung-fan (劉松藩).
Chiang also met Taiwan Affairs Office Director Wang Yi (王毅).
The fourth round of talks would be held in Taiwan sometime this year. The two sides will address fishing industry cooperation, quality checks of agricultural products, cross-strait cooperation in inspection and certification and the prevention of double taxation in the next round of cross-strait negotiation, among other issues, Maa said.
The president said yesterday’s talks had gone as planned but it may be necessary to control the number of Chinese tourists arriving in Taiwan to avoid a decline in service quality.
“Overall it is a good thing to have more flights,” he said during a question-and-answer session at a press conference in Pingtung County yesterday afternoon. “But there is room for improvement.”
He said while both sides agreed that cross-strait charter flights would be increased to 270 a week, there was a gap between the number of destinations and aviation routes anticipated by Taipei and Beijing. Without more destinations and routes, Ma said, it would still be hard to book tickets for certain routes.
Although both sides touched upon the “fifth freedom of the air,” Ma said it would be an ongoing issue and that it was not necessary to take it to the streets, adding that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) did not seem to be interested in the topic when it was in power.
DPP Chairperson Tsai Ying-wen (蔡英文) has said that the Chiang-Chen talks would be a failure if the “fifth freedom of the air” was not resolved and that her party would take “necessary action” if the talks were disappointing.
DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said the talks were unfavorable to Taiwan.
“The Ma government made concessions it should not have made, and did not gain what it should have gained,” Cheng said.
Taiwan reached an agreement on daily flights without negotiating the fifth freedom, which would make cross-strait flights tantamount to domestic flights, and Taiwan’s airlines would be at a disadvantage because they could not fly on to other countries through China, Cheng said.
On crime, Cheng said it was regretful that an extradition agreement with China was not included.
Taiwan would still have to rely on China’s goodwill to extradite Taiwanese fugitives, he said.
The DPP called on China to show its goodwill by repatriating some 80 white-collar criminals hiding in China, or the judicial agreement would be worthless, he said.
Cheng said Taiwan would only enjoy nominal equality in signing the financial agreement because the terms were basically unfavorable to Taiwan. Taiwanese financial institutes would find it hard to compete with their much bigger Chinese counterparts, he said.
Cheng said the main objective of Chinese businesses investing in Taiwan would be to gain access to high-tech companies and acquire key technologies. It would be harmful for Taiwan if Chinese businesses invested in the media and defense industries, he said.
DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said the agreements must be reviewed and approved by the legislature before they take effect, or the DPP would protest the government’s actions.
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