People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), Taiwan’s envoy to the APEC summit, talked with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) for 10 minutes about cross-strait trade and economic issues in Lima, Peru, on Saturday, a member of Taiwan’s delegation said.
PFP Legislator Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) said that Soong took advantage of a delay of the APEC Business Advisory Council meeting to engage in talks with several leaders, including Xi, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.
Lee said Soong’s conversation with Xi occurred naturally following their encounter at the venue, adding that they shook hands and sat to discuss policy issues, with Soong expressing the hope that China will resume cross-strait economic exchanges, especially those that benefit Taiwan’s small and medium-sized enterprises.
Photo courtesy of the Chinese Taipei APEC delegation
Soong and Xi agreed on the topics and they are to separately issue news releases detailing the contents of their conversation, Lee said.
Because of the two men’s “good personal relationship,” Xi noticed that Soong was wearing the same orange tie he wore at their meeting in Beijing in 2014, Lee said.
Soong and Xi did not mention the so-called “1992 consensus” or the “one China” principle, because President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) did not authorize Soong to broach those subjects, Lee said.
Photo courtesy of the Chinese Taipei APEC delegation
The “1992 consensus” — a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted to making up in 2000 — refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
In response to questions from the media about the absence of any photographs proving the exchange between Soong and Xi, Lee said photographs are “insignificant” in light of the facts that a conversation between the two did take place.
As Soong is acting as Tsai’s envoy at the summit, any statement he made during the meeting would be reported to the Presidential Office, Lee said, adding that the PFP leader would give the president a full briefing upon his return to Taipei and that a news conference would be held to inform the public of what transpired during the summit.
Soong’s talks with Putin took up a “substantial” amount of time, while he also conferred with the representatives of South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Australia, Chile, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, Lee said.
Lee said Soong invited Putin — who had expressed an interest in Taiwan — to visit the nation, and he had a “cordial” conversation with Duterte.
Lee added that the nature of Soong’s conversation with Abe was a “simple exchange of greetings.”
When asked whether a more formal meeting with Abe has been arranged, Lee said: “We still have tomorrow for that, at any rate,” without clarifying what that meant.
Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski welcomed the leaders to the council meeting, where Soong was seated between Putin and US Trade Representative Michael Froman, and separated from Xi by five seats.
Soong was seen engaging in brief talks with Putin and Froman, but did not interact with Xi during the meeting.
Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺) said in Taipei that the government welcomed the exchanges between Soong and Xi, adding that it was “natural” for interactions to occur between the president’s envoy and China’s head of state.
Huang said that Soong has maintained close contact with the office to brief it on the events at the summit and that he also promptly notified the office of the content of his talks with Xi.
“It has always been our hope that Soong could have interactions with the representatives of various nations at the meeting,” Huang added.
Additional reporting by CNA
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2