The Minister of Foreign Affairs said yesterday he would welcome more extensive bilateral talks with China at the APEC meeting under way in Suzhou, China.
Tien Hung-mao (田弘茂) told an audience at Harvard University that a meeting set for yesterday between finance ministers from Taiwan and China should help deepen ties.
"If for instance, when our ministers attend the APEC meeting in China, and should Beijing decide that they will welcome some kind of bilateral meeting while our ministers are there, I can tell you that we would welcome that," Tien said.
The meeting in Suzhou follows recommendations by the Economic Development Advisory Conference on Aug. 26 that Taipei hold talks with Beijing on opening direct trade, transportation and postal ties within the framework of the WTO.
China has ruled out direct-trade links with Taiwan unless Taipei recognizes its "one China" principle, but Beijing has given a cautious welcome to moves by Taiwan to promote greater economic integration.
"For several years now there has been a breakdown in official contact between both sides. And it is no secret that the United States, as well as Taiwan, thought that there ought to be some kind of political contact," Tien said.
"And I'm sure that China also wants the resumption of dialogue to take place except that it puts on certain kinds of preconditions that so far are unacceptable to us."
The meeting between China's finance minister and his Taiwan counterpart will be the highest-level meeting between the two political rivals since Taipei called for dropping its decades-old ban on direct-trade links.
But Tien said the meeting was just what would normally be accorded any minister from an APEC country and noted that Beijing had promised to treat Taiwanese officials like any other attendees at the meeting.
In his prepared remarks on Taiwan's foreign policy, Tien said Taipei's top priority "must be to step up our efforts to maintain the current balance of power in order to stabilize the region and keep the peace."
Tien said that Taiwan was committed to developing friendly ties with democracies around the world, despite Beijing's campaign to deprive it of diplomatic recognition.
"Like the classic examples, Finland with the Soviet Union and Israel with the Arab world, we are relatively small but a democratic and free-market country -- a David facing a Goliath."
Tien pledged that Taiwan would remain "engaged in a struggle for survival in the face of the threat of force that [China] hangs over our heads."
Tien was traveling in the US after visiting several Caribbean nations. The Chinese Embassy in Washington has objected in the past to senior Taiwanese officials visiting the US.
"We have a consistent position of opposing such visits to the United States by senior Taiwan officials," a spokesman for the Chinese embassy said.
A US State Department official played down the controversy.
"There have been visits to the United States by this man and his predecessors on a number of occasions ... so there's nothing new or unusual or unprecedented about this," the official said.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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