Government officials yesterday dismissed a reported statement by former Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) vice chairman Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) that a meeting between President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had been arranged in 2013 to take place in August last year.
Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強), a leading member of the movement against the cross-strait service trade agreement said that Chang’s information explained why the Ma administration had pushed hard to ram the controversial trade pact through the legislature before it was blocked by the Sunflower movement in March and April last year.
The Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) yesterday reported that during an investigation of Chang for his allegedly leaking national secrets to China, Chang said that both sides had planned to hold a meeting on the 56th anniversary of China’s artillery bombardment of Kinmen in 1958.
Photo: CNA
Chang reportedly told prosecutors that the meeting was called off due to “external factors” and concerns over the complexity of the triangular relationship between the US, Taiwan and China.
Mainland Affairs Council Minister Andrew Hsia (夏立言) rejected the report.
“The meeting between leaders of the two sides [of the Taiwan Strait] should be held only at an appropriate location, appropriate time and with appropriate official titles, and the meeting must be beneficial to cross-strait relations, as well as people of both sides,” Hsia told reporters after he visited the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) legislative caucus office.
“There had not been such arrangement,” Hsia said. Hsia said.
The government has always believed that it is most appropriate for leaders of Taiwan and China to meet during an APEC leader’s summit, since both sides are APEC members, “unfortunately, China has not agreed to such proposal so far,” Hsia said.
The Presidential Office refused to comment on Chang’s claim, citing a classified interrogation of Chang.
Ma has always maintained that the APEC summit in Beijing in November last year was the most suitable occasion, despite suggestions for other times and venues, the Presidential Office said.
Chang reportedly said that Taiwan listed either third-party nations, such as Singapore, or a meeting on Kinmen as alternative venues for the meeting, in addition to the option for a meeting during an APEC summit.
The Taiwanese side had begun to work on a speech to be delivered by Ma and even selected a knife made from recovered artillery shell casings to be used as a gift for Xi in the proposed meeting on Kinmen, the Liberty Times said, adding that it had obtained the information from the interrogation of Chang.
In a Facebook post, Lai said that Chang’s comments showed why Ma was anxious to force the service trade pact through the legislature.
Had the pact been endorsed by the legislature, it would have been a show of good will to Xi in order to make the Ma-Xi meeting come true, Lai said.
Lai said that Ma not only tried to evade public scrutiny and legislative deliberation of his cross-strait policies, but was also guilty of treason.
If what Chang said is true, Ma sought to use the recess of the Legislative Yuan to meet with Xi, not in his capacity as the president of the Republic of China (ROC), but rather as the leader of one side of the Taiwan Strait, to initiate political talks with China and agree to the “One China” framework, Lai wrote.
“Ma’s actions could be seen as betraying his own country,” Lai said.
Ma’s plans were foiled due to the lukewarm response of the US on such a meeting, Lai said.
Protests launched against China’s Taiwan Affair’s Office Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) during his visit to Taiwan in late June last year was also key to preventing the meeting, Lai said.
Lai called on the Legislative Yuan to pass the draft act designed to enhance legislative oversight of cross-strait negotiations before the current legislature’s term expires.
The draft act should also include the president, the premier and the issue of meeting with Chinese leaders, Lai said.
This is not only to supervise the next president, but also to protect them, Lai said.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan and CNA
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